She is winning fans on the court, attracting commercial contracts off it, and taking everything in her stride.
Patrick Mouratoglou, founder of the academy Cori Gauff has frequented since she was 10, when she was chosen to be part of his Champ’Seed Foundation, says he believed in her potential from the day he met her.
The Gauff fairytale will resume on Centre Court on Friday as the 15-year-old takes on Polona Hercog in the third round.
“Because she came to make the tests to see if she would be in the programme and I saw a kid that was an incredible athlete, great competitor and someone who was incredibly focused for her age, she knew what she wanted and she believes in herself a lot,” recalls Mouratoglou in an interview with wimbledon.com.
“She has a lot of qualities to go far in that business. And then she experienced pressure quite early because she made history several times already. She’s only 15 but she did. Being the youngest to do that, the youngest to achieve that, the youngest in the final of the US Open in juniors.
“So from an early age the pressure was huge and she was drawing a lot of attention already, so many people were expecting her to win.
“And you could feel that she was feeling that pressure, but still, she was able to keep winning. So through this experience with her, I knew she was great at handling the pressure, and that’s what she did against Venus.”
Gauff, who prefers to be referred to by her nickname ‘Coco’, has garnered lots of commercial interest already, attracting endorsements deals with New Balance, racket maker Head and pasta company Barilla. She is represented by Roger Federer’s agency Team8 and has received advice from the Swiss.
The youngest player to reach the last 32 at the Championships since Jennifer Capriati in 1991, Gauff’s journey through Qualifying and the main draw has made headlines worldwide.
There was a time when teen stars were not an anomaly on the pro circuit. From Tracy Austin to Monica Seles to Martina Hingis, the women’s game has produced 12 different teenage Grand Slam champions in the Open era, the last of which was Maria Sharapova who captured the US Open crown in 2006 as a 19-year-old.
It’s been less of a trend in the last decade which is why Gauff is making serious waves.
“It's impressive. I think she's a kid, and she needs to be a kid,” 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens said when asked about Gauff.
“It's very overwhelming at times. A lot of things happen, and tennis becomes secondary. She's having obviously the time of her life playing at Wimbledon and Court 1 and beating Venus and all of these things, which is incredible.
“But she's also 15, she's also a human, and she's a kid. She falls under that age eligibility rule, and that's a little bit tough. There are a lot of factors that go into that, but as long as she stays happy and is able to continue to play well, she'll be fine.”
The age eligibility rule restricts the number of tournaments contested by players aged 18 and under and is put in place to protect youngsters from early burnout.
Mouratoglou is confident Gauff has the right mindset and approach that can keep her on the right track, without suffering from the aftermath of young success.
“What she’s doing at the moment is great,” says the Frenchman. “She’s professional but she’s also having a life of someone her age. You can see it on social media, it’s quite clear.
I don’t like the whole ‘A star is born’ stuff, nobody is born; first she’s not born, she’s 15 years old. Second, she’s miles away from winning a Grand Slam, the road is incredibly long and she knows it
“She’s still doing school, and I think it’s important to keep this. Being very professional on the tennis side but also having your life on the side. Being very serious and not serious at the same time.
“Not serious when she’s not in tennis, and very serious when it’s about tennis. I think she’s handling things great.
“The family is helping a lot, they did an unbelievable job with her. I always said, ‘Just look at her and you can see that the parents did a great job’. Also her as a person, she’s open, she’s happy, she has friends. It’s not like some others that are closed and don’t have any friends and are unhappy. They should keep doing the same. It’s not because she won a great match, and maybe she’s going to win others – she’s still 15. When you do things right, it’s a rule right? Never change the winning tactics.
“I never give any limit to anybody and of course her even less than anyone else. Because the potential is huge. I don’t like the whole ‘A star is born’ stuff, nobody is born; first she’s not born, she’s 15 years old. Second, she’s miles away from winning a Grand Slam, the road is incredibly long and she knows it. We’ve seen someone who has huge potential but a lot of work to do to get there still,” explains Mouratoglou.
Asked if there is any danger of signing big-money deals this early in her career, the Frenchman said: “It can be a danger for people who are lacking ambition, ‘Oh wow, I’m already there’ and all that. She’s not thinking about the money, she’s not thinking about the attention. She’s thinking about the sport and winning the Grand Slams, so I don’t see any danger there.”