American prodigy to play in Auckland event
Coco Gauff, the most talked-about player in tennis this year is coming to January’s ASB Classic.
The 15-year-old stunned the tennis world at Wimbledon this year, by picking up a wildcard for qualifying and making it all of the way through to the round of 16 in the main draw.
The biggest of Gauff’s seven matches at the grass court tournament was her defeat of Venus Williams 6-4 6-4 in the first round, a victory that was seen as a passing of the baton moment for American tennis.
Gauff eventually lost to world
No 7 Simona Halep, but last month she showed that Wimbledon wasn’t a flash in the pan by winning her maiden WTA title in Linz, Austria.
At that tournament where Gauff again had to come through qualifying, she beat world No 8 Kiki Bertens in the quarterfinals and former French Open winner
Jelena Ostapenko in the final.
Gauff became the first 15-yearold to win a WTA title in 15 years and it’s no surprise that comparisons have been made between her and Jennifer Capriati.
Capriati won her first WTA tournament aged 14, but struggled with the pressure of being a professional player at such a young age and it took her
11 years and time out of the game to win her first grand slam title.
It’s a significant coup for the Classic to secure Gauff. Particularly because she has to live within the WTA’s age eligibility rules.
She can only play three tournaments before her 16th birthday on March 13. One will be the Australian Open, another is Indian Wells which begins on March 9.
So it demonstrated just how highly regarded the Classic is that Gauff and her coach JeanChristoph Faurel have chosen to come to Auckland when every other tournament in the world taking place at the beginning of the year would have loved to have had her.
Gauff will also play doubles in Auckland, with 18-year-old American Caty McNally.
ASB Classic tournament director Karl Budge says Gauff was on his radar before she was a household name. ‘‘We were talking to her long before her Wimbledon run,’’ he said.