Cori Gauff reveals she hasn’t seen or spoken with Serena Williams since the American tennis icon ended her pro career at the US Open. During her pre-tournament press conference in Indian Wells, Gauff was asked to reveal if she has been getting any advice from Williams lately.
“I don’t really speak to Serena that much unless I see her in person. [We’re] not really like in contact on messaging or phone calls or anything like that. I haven’t seen her in person since US Open, so yeah I haven’t gotten anything [advice] from her,” Gauff said, per Sportskeeda.
Gauff, who is turning 19 on Monday, grew up watching and idolizing Serena and Venus Williams. The Williams sisters made Gauff believe she 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 in a sport with not a lot of people looking like me.
I hope I can be that for other kids. Yeah, that’s all I can say really. Just continue to be our authentic selves. Don’t try to feed into any stereotypes, just be you.” Gauff said at the US Open.
Gauff: Serena and Venus’ success is at another level
Gauff has been widely tipped to become a Grand Slam champion and the world No 1 at some point.
At the Australian Open, Gauff made it pretty clear that expecting herself to win 23 Grand Slams like Serena would be just too much. “I feel like not really. I feel like what Serena Williams and Venus has done is still at another level.
I feel like it’s very hard to, I guess, feel like you belong on that level or that you should take over that mantle that they did. It’s very hard to, I guess, put myself in that position of feeling pressure. Let’s say Serena only won like two slams, then maybe I would feel it a little bit more, but I think 20-something,” Gauff said in January.
When Gauff was just 15 at 2019 Wimbledon, she managed to upset her idol Venus. Unfortunately for Gauff, she never got a chance to play against Serena.
