Cori Gauff

Some Lesser Known Facts About Cori Gauff

• Cori Gauff is an American Tennis player. She is the youngest player to qualify for Wimbledon, and she rose to prominence after defeating Venus Williams in the first round.

  

• She was interested in sports from a very young age.

• Her parents are former athletes. They let Cori try out different sports during her childhood, to see which one she likes the best.

• Cori decided to pursue tennis as she loved the Williams sisters, and they were an inspiration to her.

• Her family was from Atlanta, US. They were professional athletes, but, they gave up their career in sports to focus on and train Cori in tennis.

• Her family moved to Delray Beach, Florida, United States. Cori stayed with her grandparents for a few months before their family could find a home of their own.

• Cori’s father was a professional basketball player but he gave up his career, and after moving to Florida, he learnt tennis. He became Cori’s coach and trained her in the following years.

  

• At the age of 8, Cori joined the New Generation Tennis Academy, where Gerard Logo coached her.

• In 2012, Cori won her first national title, the Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation’s “Little Mo” eight-and-under nationals.

• Her victory led her to decide that she wanted to pursue a life-long career in tennis.

• When she was ten years old, she joined the Mouratoglou Academy, which was being run by Serena Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. Once in an interview, Mouratoglou said that he’ll always remember Cori’s first day, he enthusiasm, maturity, determination, fighting spirit, and athleticism.

• In 2014, she won the United States Tennis Association Clay Court National 12-and-under title. She became the youngest ever to win the title at the age of 10 years and 4 months.

  

• Cori won several Grade A tournaments before making her first Grand Slam debut in 2017, in the US Open Junior. She was the runner-up in the tournament.

  

• In 2018, she won the Junior French Open against Caty McNally. In the same year, she won another title against Caty McNally, and she became the Junior World No. 1.

  

• She won the Junior US Open Doubles titles with her partner Caty McNally in 2018.

  

• In 2018, she participated in the Junior Fed Cup and won the Doubles Title with her partner Alexa Noel.

• In December 2018, Cori participated in the Orange Bowl, and she won many titles. It made her the Junior World No. 2.

  

• In 2019, she qualified to be in Wimbledon. She became the youngest ever player at the age of 15 years and 3 months to qualify for the tournament.

• Her first match was against one of her idols, Venus Williams. She was very nervous before the match,  but she stayed confident and strong throughout the match.

• She couldn’t control her emotions when she won, and she cried for the first time after winning a match.

  

• When she was playing against Venus Williams, she used a mental trick to stay focussed. She kept repeating in her mind- the lines of this court are the same as she used to practice on. It was a dialogue from the film- Hoosiers.

  

• After the match, as Venus came up to congratulate her, Cori said-
  

  Thank you, I wouldn’t be here without you”

  

• Cori went on to win 2 more matches against Magdaléna Rybáriková and Polona Hercog, but, she lost to Simona Halep.

  

• In 2023, Cori Gauff won the women’s singles title at the US Open. She defeated a Belarusian player named Aryna Sabalenka in the finals 2–6, 6–3, 6–2 and became the first American teenager to claim victory at the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999. In addition to this, she reached the world’s No. 3 ranking on 11 September 2023.