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The new Serena? Mouratoglou gives inside track on Cori Gauff ahead of Wimbledon debut vs Venus Williams


Cori Gauff will take on Venus Williams at Wimbledon (Picture: Getty Images)

Unquestionably, Cori Gauff’s battle of the generations against veteran Venus Williams is the match to watch out for on the first day of The Championships.

Just 15 years old, Gauff will arrive on Court 1 as the youngest Wimbledon qualifier in the Open Era and will take on the oldest player in the draw. Williams is 24 years her senior.

Gauff has long been tipped for greatness.

At 13, she became the youngest junior US Open finalist in the competition’s history. At 14, she was the youngest junior Grand Slam champion since Martina Hingis in Paris. Now, she arrives in the main draw of a Slam for the first time after three ruthless straight set victories in qualifying.

Gauff, currently world No. 301 in the WTA rankings, is arguably the most exciting member of ‘Team Mouratoglou’ – a group of youngsters, including Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas, who train out of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy in the south of France.

Mouratoglou, a man who certainly knows talent when he sees it, has known Gauff since she was just 10 years old. From the first moment he met her, he knew she was special.

‘When I test the players [who want to join the academy], of course I want to see them in extreme situations because that’s when you know really who is who,’ he tells Metro.co.uk at the All England Club.

Mouratoglou boasts Gauff as part of ‘Team Mouratoglou’ Getty Images)

‘Of course we put them in practice matches, in training, to go through tough situations on the court but also we had these discussions one on one with her and when I do that I push them to see what’s behind. She was impressive.

‘I remember when she was 10, she was looking at me in the eyes and said, “I want to be No. 1 in the world”. You could feel that she was really believing it. I remember that was really strong, it was a strong moment.’

Mouratoglou believes her game is well suited to grass, despite her not spending much time on the surface; A big serve, a flat backhand that stays low, while she’s naturally a good mover on the notoriously tricky to navigate green stuff.

However, Gauff’s greatest strengths come from within.

Mouratoglou adds: ‘If I have to say what’s the most important thing? Number one, she’s an incredible competitor. Their job as tennis players is to win.

Gauff is yet to compete in the main draw of a Grand Slam (Picture: Getty Images)

‘There are players that figure how out how to win better than others, they’re called the best competitors and I think the best players in the world are the best competitors and she has that. That’s the number one quality.

‘Number two, I would say she has natural athleticism that is really impressive. Number three, she is mature but what I mean is she already knows what she wants since she’s young, since she’s 10. She’s working hard, fighting hard every day of her life to achieve what she wants to achieve. It’s not something you see very frequently.

‘Something really remarkable about her is that she’s made history several times already and she’s only 15. You have to realise she has an incredible pressure as she’s made history quite early… there’s a lot of expectations on her shoulders.

‘She’s impressive in a way that she handles the pressure. We know how difficult it is, even for the pros. You see so many players that win a Slam and then after are struggling to handle the pressure. She’s 15 and she’s doing great in that. You can feel that it’s heavy, you can feel it but still she deals with it and she finds a way to continue to improve and do well. That’s really incredible.’

Comparisons to Serena Williams are somewhat inevitable for the young American nicknamed ‘Coco’, particularly given Williams admitted she was reminded of her younger self when watching her compatriot out on the practice court.

‘She’s such a fantastic young lady,’ Williams said at her pre-Wimbledon press conference. ‘She works very hard. Every time I have work, I see her out there working, training, her and her dad.

‘It reminds me of the time where I was out there with my dad. I can’t help but look inside of myself and be proud and be happy for her. Yeah, so it’s really nice to see.’

Mouratoglou, howevver, does not see many similarities in their games.

‘I don’t think so. No, I think she [Serena] is more an inspiration than anything else,’ he continues.

Mouratoglou played down comparisons with Serena (Picture: Getty Images)

‘Nobody is the next Serena. Yeah, I know people say that, but I don’t think it’s fair for people to compare anyone with Serena, I don’t think it’s fair to compare anyone with Roger [Federer] either.

‘First of all I don’t want people to say she can win 20 Grand Slams because she hasn’t won one. She’s young, she has a big potential. She wants it but we shouldn’t put people where they’re not. She has just qualified for her first Grand Slam, achieved great things as a junior, shown a lot of qualities but it’s a long way to go.

‘I don’t think Coco wants to be Serena, she wants to be Coco. She will try to be the best Coco she can be. Hopefully she will achieve great things in the future but step by step. She’s 15. She qualified for the first time in her life in the main draw of a Grand Slam. The road is still very long…’

Although she trains out of his academy, Mouratoglou – who dedicates the majority of his coaching time to Williams – takes a relatively hands off approach to her development with her father, Corey Gauff, the main driving force in her coaching setup. Mouratoglou is keen to throw ‘a lot of the credit’ in his direction.

Given the ties he has to Gauff’s first-round opponent, Mouratoglou – who often sits in the boxes of his ‘Team Mouratoglou’ stars – will not be present on court this time, although he hopes to get an opportunity to provide support later in the tournament.

‘I would have been in the box in any other circumstances but it’s a bit special, it’s against Venus,’ says Mouratoglou.

Venus Williams will face Gauff on Monday (Picture: Getty Images)

‘I’ve been working with Serena for seven years and this is almost my family… it’s difficult. If it would be anyone else – of course not Serena – I would be in the box and I will be there hopefully in the next round. But yeah, I don’t want drama.’

So can Gauff pull off the biggest win of her young career and take out the seven-time Grand Slam champion?

‘I think so, yeah, for sure,’ Mouratoglou concludes. ‘I’m not going to say that she can’t because that wouldn’t be fair to anybody. When you’re in the first round of a major you can beat potentially all the players in the draw.

‘She qualified in a very nice way, played really well, didn’t lose a set. Last round of qualies she was really impressive, won 6-1 6-1, playing really great tennis.

‘And the fact she’s so excited to see Venus, I think she’s going to come to that match pumped and enjoying every moment, every second, so everything’s possible when you’re like that.’





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