‘I Hope I Can Be That for Other Kids’ – Coco Gauff Says She Wants to Follow in the Footsteps of the Williams Sisters

Coco Gauff didn’t have the greatest of endings as she would have liked at this year’s US Open. A strong contender for the title owing to her incredible form leading up to the final Grand Slam of the calendar year, Gauff lost in the quarter-finals. She went down in straight sets against Caroline Garcia of France. Nonetheless, it was the best result of her career at the US Open and she is likely only going on to improve from here.

On numerous occasions throughout her career, Gauff has revealed how Venus and Serena Williams have inspired her to take up tennis. Recently, she shared her learnings from the Williams sisters.

Coco Gauff has a piece of advice for young kids

During the post-match press conference after her quarter-final match against Garcia, an interviewer asked her about some advice that she wanted to give to small kids that looked up to her. Replying to this question, Coco Gauff said, “I mean for me, for any kid but especially ones that look like me, I think for the most part just continue to do what you want to do no matter what people say.”

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Further, she added, “I think for me the Williams sisters definitely inspired me to play tennis because I saw someone like me playing in a sport with not a lot of people looking like me so I hope I can be that for other kids and yeah that’s all I can say really, just continue to be our authentic self and don’t try to feed into any stereotypes, just be you.”

Gauff endures shock doubles loss at the US Open

The American teen sensation, who is the top-ranked player in women’s doubles, lost in the first round of women’s doubles at the US Open. Partnering with compatriot Jessica Pegula, the duo lost against Daria Saville and Leylah Fernandez in the opening round of the tournament.

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With this defeat, Gauff will have to surrender her world number one doubles ranking when it will be updated post the US Open.