She added to her title haul in 2024 by defending the Auckland title at the start of the season, before claiming the China Open title and winning the WTA Finals.

But Gauff burst on the scene at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, where she defeated five-time champion Venus Williams.

“I’m super shocked”

In 2019 Venus Williams entered the main draw of the Wimbledon Championships for the 22nd time.

In the opening round she took on Coco Gauff,  who came through the qualifiers aged just 15 and won the junior French Open tournament in 2018.

Despite the promise she showed, many expected the five-time champion at SW19 to seal the win and advance to the next round.

But Gauff had other ideas, as she produced one of the upsets of the season to defeat Williams 6-4, 6-4 in her first Grand Slam main draw appearance.

“I’m just super blessed that Wimbledon decided to give me the wild card,” Gauff said in her post-match press conference. “I mean, I never expected this to happen.

“Obviously I literally got my dream draw, so I’m just super happy I was able to pull it out today. She played amazing, and was just super nice. She’s always been nice the couple times I met her.”

“I want to be the greatest”

After beating Williams, Gauff’s momentum continued and she went on to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2019.

She defeated Magdaléna Rybáriková and Polona Hercog before losing to Simona Halep in the last 16, who went on to become champion. This was the start of Gauff’s rise up the ranks, as she claimed her first WTA title just three months later in Linz.

Five years later, Gauff is the World number three with a Grand Slam title to her name, and she does not plan on stopping there. “I said this before: I want to be the greatest,” Gauff said after beating Williams.

“My dad told me that I could do this when I was eight. Obviously you never believe it. I’m still, like, not 100% confident, but you have to just say things.

“You never know what will happen. If I went into this match saying, ‘Let’s see how many games I can get against her,’ then I most definitely would not have won. My goal was to play my best. My dream was to win. That’s what happened.”

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