Youngin amillion

Tennis talent Coco Gauff is one of those rare youths who have taken the world by storm while their peers are still finding their feet

TEENAGER Coco Gauff won hearts at Wimbledon and beyond when she stormed her way to the final 16 of the women’s singles.

Her tremendous performance, including beating tennis legend Venus Williams in straight sets, has seen her rise into the world’s top 150.

Commentators and opponents are predicting a great future for the humble young woman, who entered the tournament as a qualifier ranked number 313.

“I learned a lot,” said the 15-yearold American, who takes home £176,000 prize money and plans to buy herself a new hoodie.

“I learned how to play in front of a big crowd. I learned what it was like to be under pressure. I’m really thankful for this experience.”

Coco also reckons the big hitters have taken note of a new kid on the block. She said: “I hope they learned about me, that I’m a fighter and I’ll never give up. Even though I’m young, my game gives these players a little bit of a hustle.”

She’s not the first teenager to make an impression while their peers were still making their parents’ lives a misery.

LAURA DEKKER

The youngest person to sail solo around the world, Laura wanted to set out on her maiden voyage when she was 14. The Dutch courts intervened and she had to wait a year, until 2010, before she could start. She set off from Gibraltar in her 40ft ketch, Guppy, and spent 518 days alone at sea. She completed the feat aged 16 years and 123 days.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI

By the time she was 15, blogger and activist Malala was such a threat to the Taliban that they shot her in the head. Growing up in an area of northwestern Pakistan, where girls were not allowed to go to school, she agitated for women’s education. She survived the attack, was treated in the UK and moved to Birmingham. Aged 17, she became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

BOBBY FISCHER American schoolboy Bobby was 15 when he became a chess grandmaster. The clues were there. At 13, he won a competition called “the game of the century”. He was the youngest grandmaster at the time (there have been younger prodigies since) and the youngest candidate for the world championships.

MOZART The composer was well into his musical stride by his teens. Aged seven, he was playing the harpsichord and violin and wrote sonatas to be played on them. The next year, he composed his first two symphonies. Aged 11, he wrote his first comic opera. And at 14, he produced his first “grown-up” opera, Mitridate, re di Ponto.

GRETA THUNBERG When 15-year-old schoolgirl Greta started demanding climate change action outside the Swedish parliament, she sparked a movement that has spread all over the world. Now 16, she has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Her biography will be published next month.

LOUIS BRAILLE The French prodigy lost his sight after a childhood accident. At an elite school for the blind, he started work on a touch-based code using battlefield cyphers. He had perfected his reading system, still used worldwide today, by the time he was 15.

NADIA COMANECI The gymnast enchanted the world during the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. The pocket-sized 14-year-old Romanian’s flawless performances on both the beam and uneven bars scored perfect 10s. She took home three gold medals.

NOBEL PRIZE Malala Yousafzai

COURTING STARDOM Coco Gauff in action at Wimbledon. Picture: Mike Egerton/ PA Wire