Gauff, 15, wins again — into third round
WIMBLEDON, England — There are ways in which Coco Gauff is just like any other 15yearold American, watching whatever videos YouTube recommends for her, from makeup tutorials to anything that’ll make her laugh.
And then there is what happens when Gauff has a tennis racket in her hands. With big shots and a calm beyond her years, she followed her upset of Venus Williams by moving into the third round at Wimbledon on Wednesday night via a 63, 63 victory over Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia under a closed roof at No. 1 Court.
“It just shows if you really work hard, you can get where you want to go,” said Gauff, who received a wildcard invitation for the qualifying competition, then became the youngest player in the professional era to get through those pretournament rounds and reach the main draw. “Last week around this time, I didn’t know I was coming here. It just shows you have to be ready for everything.”
She certainly has looked ready. Hasn’t dropped a set. On Wednesday, she also was resourceful and composed beyond her years. “You can kind of fake it until you make it, but I’m not faking it,” Gauff said, “at least right now.”
At 13, she became the youngest player in history to reach the U.S. Open girls’ singles final. She lost to Amanda Anisimova, now 17, who reached the French Open semifinals last month and is into the second round at Wimbledon. Gauff then won the French Open junior title at 14.
But this year at the French Open, Gauff lost in qualifying for the main draw, at times struggling to remain calm and focused. She has had no such problems at Wimbledon.
“I think it wasn’t so much that my tennis improved; it was more my mindset,” Gauff said. “Because my mindset improved, my tennis definitely changed. I don’t think it was so much how many balls I hit in practice. It was more off court, thinking how can I improve myself and improve the way I act on the court. It’s definitely been a challenge.”
After eliminating Williams, 39 — who won four of her seven Grand Slam titles before Gauff was born — she needed less than 70 minutes to get past Rybarikova, 30. Gauff didn’t face a break point in the secondround match, and again played cleanly, this time with only 10 unforced errors.
The toughest part for Gauff might have been dealing with everything on the periphery that came with that win over Williams.
“I could lie and say I felt normal,” said Gauff, who lives in Florida. “It was honestly so hard, just with social media and everything, trying to focus on my next match, because people are still posting about Venus.”
There were direct messages via social media from “a lot of celebrities,” including some TV actresses, Gauff said.
“I’m kind of starstruck,” she said. “It’s been hard to reset.”
Next up is 28yearold Polona Hercog of Slovenia.
What sort of advice has Gauff been getting from her parents? This is level of success is, after all, so new to her.
“They just told me, ‘You have another match. The tournament’s not over. Don’t focus too much on what happened.’ My goal is to win it,” she said. “They just told me, ‘Keep yourself grounded.’ I think I’ve always just done a good job of that.”