Coco reaches for the stars as the sun sets on Venus
MIKE DICKSON
IT WAS a ‘hello world’ moment when Coco Gauff defeated Venus Williams in the first round on Wimbledon’s Court No1 last summer. Their meeting at the same stage of the Australian Open had more the feeling of a goodbye, with there being a contrasting lack of surprise at the 15-year-old overcoming someone nearly 24 years her senior. The older Williams sibling is a reduced figure these days, ranked 55 in the world, and although she put up some stiff resistance in the first set, she could not prevent herself going down to a 7-6, 6-3 defeat. Whether we will see the five-times Wimbledon champion in Australia again cannot be certain, although there appears little doubt that she will return to SW19 at least one more time. She turns 40 just before this year’s event but confirmed that she would like to be at the Olympics in Tokyo. ‘In a perfect world, I would play every time, I love it,’ she said. Unfortunately for Williams, there are a lot of Americans ahead of her in the pecking order, although the authorities are always ingenious when trying to get the biggest names in the field. There is a world weariness about Williams when she talks in public, unlike Gauff, for whom everything remains fresh. The honeymoon seems far from over. ‘Everyone thinks I’m so serious because of my on-court demeanour,’ said Gauff. ‘Really, I’m not. I don’t really take life too seriously. I like to have fun.’ At a ranking already of 67, Gauff is still improving and felt she served better than when she met Williams at Wimbledon. Gauff now plays the experienced Romanian Sorana Cirstea and the steely side of her nature will have to be to the fore. She said: ‘If I go into a tournament thinking I’ll lose, then I’m going to lose. ‘I respect my opponent.’ Meanwhile, British No 1 Dan Evans will face Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka after beating American Mackenzie McDonald 3-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3. As a riposte to Tim Henman’s recent josh that he should watch his calorie intake, actions spoke louder than words, his recovery taking three hours and 21 minutes. At the end, he looked at his support bench and tapped his stomach, later denying he was sending a message to Henman. ‘No, it was just a bit of a joke to the guys in my corner. There was nothing in it,’ said Evans. Roger Federer opened with a straightforward 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Steve Johnson.