Cori Gauff reveals that she has not seen or spoken to Serena Williams since the American tennis icon ended her professional career at the US Open. During her pre-tournament press conference in Indian Wells, Gauff was asked to reveal if she had received any advice from Williams lately.
«I don’t really talk to Serena much unless I see her in person. [We’re] I really don’t like to be in touch by messages or phone calls or anything like that. I haven’t seen her in person since the US Open, so yeah, I haven’t gotten anything. [advice] her,» Gauff said, according to sportskeeda.
Gauff, who turns 19 on Monday, grew up watching and idolizing Serena and Venus Williams. The Williams sisters made Gauff believe that he could one day be a tennis star. «I think for me, the Williams sisters definitely inspired me to play tennis because I saw someone like me playing a sport without a lot of people who looked like me.
I hope I can be that for other children. Yeah, that’s all I can really say. Let’s just continue to be our authentic selves. Don’t try to feed any stereotype, just be you,» Gauff said at the US Open.
Gauff: The success of Serena and Venus is on another level
Gauff has been widely tipped to become a Grand Slam champion and world number 1 at some point.
At the Australian Open, Gauff made it quite clear that hoping to win 23 Grand Slams as Serena would be too much. «I feel like not really. I feel like what Serena Williams and Venus have done is still on another level.
I feel like it’s very difficult, I guess, to feel like you belong on that level or that you should take up the mantle that they did. It’s very difficult, I guess, to put myself in that position of feeling pressure. Let’s say Serena only won like two slams, so she would maybe feel it a little bit more, but I think in her 20s,» Gauff said in January.
When Gauff was just 15 years old at Wimbledon 2019, he managed to upset his idol Venus. Unfortunately for Gauff, she never got the chance to play Serena.
