CORI “COCO” GAUFF, A “GOAT” IN THE MAKING

Cori Gauff, nicknamed “Coco”, was born on March 13, 2004 to Corey and Candi Gauff in Atlanta, Georgia.  Her family moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Delray Beach, Florida to give her better opportunities to grow her tennis skills.  Corey Gauff is CoCo’s head coach and is homeschooled by her mother, Corey.  Beating one of her idols, Venus Williams, was no fluke; it’s in her genes!  Her father, Corey Gauff played basketball for Georgia State University and her mother, Candi Gauff displayed her athleticism in the track and field arena at Florida State University.  At the age of 6, after being informed by her father what “GOAT” stood for, “Greatest of All Time”, Cori declared she “wanted to be the GOAT” and with her mom and dad by her side, Cori is on her way to becoming the GOAT.

CoCo is the youngest female ever to qualify for Main Draw in a Grand Slam tournament and the youngest player ever to qualify for Main Draw at Wimbledon! In 2017, at age 13, at the US Open, in the girls’ singles event, she became the youngest finalist ever.  She then went on, in the following year, to become the youngest winner of the Junior French Open.

After beating Venus Williams, ranked #44, she then went on to the second round and beat Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, ranked #13 in singles, positioning herself to meet and defeat Polona Hercog of Slovenia in the third round. This was a match to remember, CoCo won the third round in SPECTULAR fashion! She flat out lost the first set 3-6!  Ah, but then came the second set against Hercog. Cori was down 5-2 and appeared to be worried, at least I know we the fans were. However, she stayed strong and dug deep and pulled herself out of the hole and won the tie break 9 points to 7!   Almost everyone watching was up on their feet, clapping and shouting about CoCo’s GREAT COMEBACK! Now, with each player owning a set, comes set #3. The set was interesting and close, but CoCo won the set 7 games to 5.  Almost the entire stadium, those sitting outside watching the matches on the big board, and those watching from Delray, Florida were up on their feet, clapping their hands, and shouting for the outstanding play CoCo displayed in winning!  She beat Hercog (3-6, 7-6, 7-5) and now advanced to play 7^th ranked Simona Halep of Rumania on Monday, July 8, 2019!  To be certain, she and her Dad will do as they have always done before each match since she was 8 years old, pray that she and her opponent stay safe!

Tags: Tennis