‘Did I really play Venus?’ Coco Gauff is still shocked that she beat Venus Williams.
It’s been 169 days since Coco Gauff bested Venus Williams at Wimbledon 2019.
And the 15-year-old is still coming to terms with it.
“I still don’t believe it,” Gauff said of her victory on a recent podcast. “Sometimes I’ll turn to my dad like ‘Did I really play Venus?’”
The tennis wunderkind’s shock makes sense. She beat her idol before getting her driver’s license. That just doesn’t happen. Imagine a 15-year-old LeBron James somehow finding his way to the NBA and beating Kobe Bryant. See how crazy that sounds?
“I couldn’t even look at the scoreboard because I couldn’t see V. Williams on the score,” Gauff said with laugh, later adding. “The whole match, I just didn’t think of Venus, I just couldn’t because I’d start to get nervous.”
Her poise ended up being the difference-maker. In beating one of the greatest players to ever pick up a racket, she might have inspired a whole generation of kids to play tennis.
“I remember Delray Program before Wimbledon, there was only like a couple kids ,” she continued, “and then when I came back, all the courts were packed, The director was like ‘This was all because of you.’”
Similarly, her father, Cory, hoped his presence in his daughter’s life pushes other black dads to do the same.
“Hopefully this moment is so good that this is an idea that other black fathers can get in their kids life if they’re not and if they are, anything can be possible,” Cory said of watching his daughter beat Williams.
With the Australian Open roughly a month away, South Florida and the rest of the country will be tuned in to see if Gauff can rack up another huge win. Maybe this time the shock will wear off sooner.
