Gauff made feelings clear on Venus Williams as – Sports News
Coco Gauff’s path to a first profession Australian Open title win would probably require her to beat “inspiration” Venus Williams within the second spherical.
If each American tennis stars at both finish of the age spectrum — Gauff is 21, Williams is 45 — win their first match, they are going to face off within the second spherical.
Gauff, seeded third, will face No. 91 Kamilla Rakhimova within the first spherical. Williams, ranked No. 576 and within the Open as a wild card recipient, will begin her Australian Open journey in opposition to No. 68 Olga Danilovic.
Gauff’s breakout onto the worldwide tennis scene got here from her upsetting Williams at Wimbledon in 2019. Then 15 and the youngest qualifier within the competitors’s historical past, Gauff beat a 39-year-old Williams in straight units.
“I wasn’t apologizing!” Gauff said after the match about what she told Williams at the net. “I used to be simply telling her thanks for all the things that she’s finished for the game, and he or she’s been an inspiration for a lot of people, and I used to be simply actually telling her thanks.”
“I met her before, but I didn’t really have the guts to say anything, so I was like ‘now or never’… I definitely get compared to Venus a lot. Our body shape is kind of the same, we’re both tall, obviously play [similarly]. But when I’m on the court, I just feel like me.”
Gauff advanced all the way to the fourth round, launching a career that has seen her amongst the best in the sport ever since. Months later, she defeated Williams once again, this time in the first round of the 2020 Australian Open.
For Gauff to win her first title, she must defeat the likes of Markéta Vondroušová (2023 Wimbledon winner) in the third round and Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.
Venus Williams competed in her first Australian Open all the way back in 1998. At 45, she’ll become the oldest woman in modern Open history to earn a spot in the draw. She has never won the competition, reaching the finals in both 2003 and 2017 (losing to her sister, Serena, on both occasions).
“I’m excited to be back in Australia and looking out ahead to competing during the Australian summer time,” Williams said ahead of the tournament. “I’ve had so many unimaginable reminiscences there, and I’m grateful for the chance to return to a place that has meant a lot to my profession.”
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