We've asked three tennis experts how far they think Coco Gauff can go in the tennis world...
Sunday 25 August 2019 23:07, UK
There is no shortage of expectations on the shoulders of 15-year-old Cori 'Coco' Gauff ahead of this year's US Open.
Gauff arrives at Flushing Meadows as a wildcard but with real hopes to become the next big star of the sport.
The talented teenager comes from a strong sporting family. She is coached by her father Corey, who played basketball at Georgia State University.
Gauff's mother Candi, meanwhile, was a gymnast before competing in athletics at Florida State University. The family moved from Atlanta to Florida when Gauff was just seven to boost her tennis prospects.
She had been marked out for stardom for a while and is represented by the Team 8 management company, which was set up by Roger Federer and his agent Tony Godsick.
She reached the showpiece of the girls' singles at the US Open in 2017 aged just 13, making her the youngest-ever finalist.
At the French Open the following year, she won the title just over two months after her 14th birthday and she became the first 15-year-old to compete in the main draw at Wimbledon since Laura Robson 10 years ago. She upset her idol Venus Williams, Magdalena Rybarikova and Slovenian Polona Hercog before losing to eventual winner Simona Halep in the fourth round.
Her progress has continued since her dream run at the All England Club as she claimed the women's doubles title at last month's Washington Open with fellow American teen Catherine McNally, her first WTA crown.
Her status as a premier tennis prodigy has matched her popularity as a burgeoning cultural icon, landing a spot as this month's cover girl for Teen Vogue, racking up roughly 400,000 Instagram followers and claiming an audience with former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Her focus must remain on tennis or so that at least it's balanced in the right way. I hope that she is capable of doing that.
But now all eyes turn to New York and the pressure cooker atmosphere of Flushing Meadows.
Coco has the goods but is she the real deal? Three tennis experts who know a thing or two about the game spoke to Sky Sports' Raz Mirza during Wimbledon...
She fought through qualification at Wimbledon which is nice to see and it became a fairytale run for her. It's amazing to see how mature she is, only being 15 years of age. She's so fast and so quick, I feel that a star has been born. She will be top 10 if her body holds up. I think it's a good thing that she only plays 12 events because you still have to be careful at her age. She's still fragile, she's still very young and although you might be mature on the court, off it you're still a kid so I think it's good for her to ease into the tour. It's also good for the sport to have somebody like her coming up and maybe following in Serena and Venus' footsteps.
I'm very impressed with her. Being 15 and not making errors on the big occasions while some of the risks she's taken has been very impressive for a young girl. I'm sure she has a good team around her and that her parents are smart people that will keep her feet on the ground and not let her go into this crazy lifestyle that will be thrown at her a little bit. Her focus must remain on tennis or so that at least it's balanced in the right way. I hope that she is capable of doing that.
Everybody that follows tennis knew that she was waiting in the wings to make some sort of headline and it happened at Wimbledon. It's no great surprise if you saw her in action at the Orange Bowl and you don't sign up with Roger Federer's management group unless you're going to be seen as somebody who will be a pretty big name in the game of tennis. It's incredible to be 15 and be that mature, that aware of what you need to be doing on a tennis court. She's phenomenal and she is going to be great.
Gauff, who received a wild card to play at Flushing Meadows, takes on Anastasia Potapova in the first round. Potapova, from Russia, was Wimbledon junior champion in 2016.
