Who is Cori Gauff? Ask Venus Williams – and the rest of the tennis world. We all know who she is now. That’s because the 15-year-old American stunned Williams in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 during yesterday’s first round in London. For Gauff, it wasn’t just a “win,” she grew up admiring the Williams sisters, and appropriately shed tears after beating one of her idols.
Gauffis the youngest player ever to advance through qualifying at Wimbledon is the professional era. Explaining her tears in the aftermath, Cori - who many know as Coco - said she was just overwhelmed. "I never thought this would happen," she offered. "I'm living my dream right now, not many people get to say that."
But its not as though she walked in thinking she'd win...or lose. “I wouldn’t say I didn’t expect to win the match,” Gauff notes. “I knew that I was going to go out there and play the way I play. I wasn’t surprised that I won. I mean, I was just overwhelmed at the end. I’ve never played on a court that big, the crowd was really wild. I was just surprised that people were cheering me on.”
Up next, Gauff will face Magdalena Rybarikova in the second round tomorrow. Elsewhere, second-seed Naomi Osaka was upset by Yulia Putintseva. As for Venus’ sister, Serena, she’ll play her first round match this morning against Giulia Gatto-Monticone.
ONE MORE THING!In other exciting news for Gauff, She missed school for the legendary tournament, and took a science test in her hotel and got a B! Speaking to reporters yesterday, Gauff cracked wise about school – as she stayed humble about her on the court performance. “Today I'd give myself an A,” she quipped. “Hopefully my next test I can get an A but you never know.”