TIL Desk Sports/ American teenager Cori “Coco” Gauff knocked off compatriot Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4 in the first round at Wimbledon. “She said congratulations. I told her thank you for everything that you did. I wouldn”t be here without you. I always wanted to tell her that,” the 15-year-old Gauff said after the match on Monday.
The world number 301, the youngest player ever to qualify for Wimbledon in the Open Era, took out a player who is 24 years her senior, setting a record for the match with the biggest age difference between opponents at the grass-court event. “Honestly I don”t really know how to feel. That”s the first time I have ever cried after winning a match. I don”t even know how to explain how I feel,” Gauff said.
Williams, a five-time Wimbledon champion, appeared to be getting back into the match at 4-4 in the second set, but Gauff did not falter and continued to put the pressure on. “I definitely had to tell myself to stay calm, I had to remind myself that the lines are the same lines, the courts are the same size and after every point I told myself ”stay calm,”” Gauff said.
