Wimbledon, July 1, 2019, first round. On one side, Venus Williams: 39 years old, five-time champion, the oldest woman in the draw. On the other, a 15-year-old from Delray Beach, Florida, ranked 313th in the world, who had said before the match that Venus and Serena were the reason she played tennis.
Straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. At the net, Venus congratulated her. Then the kid cried.
You could see her say something to Venus at the net. Later she told everyone what it was.
"I told her thank you for everything that you did. I wouldn't be here without you. I always wanted to tell her that."
Coco Gauff, on what she said to Venus Williams at the net, Wimbledon, July 1, 2019
Her name was Cori Gauff. Everybody called her Coco. A week earlier she had become the youngest player in the Open era to qualify for Wimbledon. And she was not the first person in her family to walk into a place at 15 and change what happened there.
The first fifteen
On September 28, 1961, a 15-year-old named Yvonne Lee Odom left all-Black Carver High School and became the first Black student at all-white Seacrest High in Delray Beach. A local paper ran the headline: Negro Student Integrated Quietly At Seacrest High.
The school wanted her to use the faculty bathroom. It tried to keep her out of gym class. She refused both.
"I'm using the same restroom everybody else is using."
Yvonne Lee Odom, Coco Gauff's grandmother, to NPR, October 2023
Odom went on to teach in Delray Beach for 45 years. Carver and Seacrest later merged into Atlantic Community High School. Her daughter, Candi, ran track there and won a Florida state heptathlon title before competing at Florida State. Candi's daughter is Coco.
After Coco won the 2023 US Open, she said her grandmother always taught her to handle every situation with kindness and understanding, and reminded her that she was a person first and an athlete second.
No income
Coco was born in March 2004 and spent her early years in Atlanta. Her father, Corey, had played college basketball at Georgia State and become a health care executive. He had almost no tennis background. Her mother was an educator. The family moved back to Delray Beach, where both parents grew up, so Coco could train.
Then both parents stepped away from their careers. Corey became her coach. Candi ran her schooling at home. Corey later joked that they went from a single-income family to a no-income family. The big Florida academies, where a year could cost more than $60,000, were out of reach, so they kept the training in the family.
If that sounds familiar, it should. They were following the path Richard Williams had cut for Venus and Serena. Corey said seeing the Williams sisters win gave the family confidence, because they had not seen many African American women in the sport. At 10, Coco started training at Patrick Mouratoglou's academy in France.
Qualies to the second week
Back to June 2019. She came through three rounds of Wimbledon qualifying, closing it out 6-1, 6-1 over Greet Minnen. Then the draw came out, and there was Venus.
After she won, she told the BBC it was the first time she had ever cried after winning a match. She said she had to keep reminding herself that the lines and the court were the same size as anywhere else.
And she kept going. She beat Magdalena Rybarikova. She saved two match points against Polona Hercog. The run finally ended in the fourth round against Simona Halep, who went on to win the title.
Two Slams
On September 9, 2023, at 19, she dropped the first set to Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open final and came back to win it 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. In her speech she thanked the people who doubted her for adding gas to her fire. She also said it was the first time she had ever seen her father cry.
In 2024 she won the WTA Finals, the first American to win the season-ending title in 10 years. On June 7, 2025, in Paris, she did it to Sabalenka again, then the world No. 1: down a set, back to win the French Open.
A long year
2026 tested her. She made the finals in Miami and Rome and lost both. As defending champion at Roland Garros, she went out in the third round.
At Wimbledon she made the semis and had a match point at 9-8 in the final-set tiebreak against Karolina Muchova. Her drop shot found the net, and Muchova won it 6-2, 1-6, 7-6. Afterward Gauff said she had left it all out there.
On August 23 she beat Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4 to win Cincinnati for the second time. At the US Open she saved match points against Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals, then lost a three-set semifinal to Elena Rybakina on September 10.
In Beijing on October 7, she lost 6-3, 6-3 to Elise Mertens. During the match she told her team she had no energy. That night she pulled out of Wuhan, where she was the defending champion.
"After a long year, my body needs some time to rest and recover."
Coco Gauff, on withdrawing from the Wuhan Open, October 7, 2026
A week later she qualified for the WTA Finals for the fifth straight year. It starts November 8 in Indian Wells. The 15-year-old who cried at the net with Venus is 22 now. She has two Slams, a WTA Finals title and a body asking for rest, and she is going back for more. The lines and the court are the same size they always were.
GAMECHANGER™Reporting draws on the Associated Press, Reuters, NPR, WPTV, Andscape, Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports, Tennis.com, Tennis Majors, Al Jazeera, NBC Sports, Just Women's Sports, the WTA, Field Level Media and Wikipedia's documented record of her career.
Sources (17)
CBS Sports: Venus Williams falls to 15-year-old Coco Gauff at Wimbledon · Tennis Majors: Gauff beats Venus at Wimbledon 2019 · Sports Illustrated: Cori Gauff interview after beating Venus Williams · NPR: Coco Gauff's grandmother on integrating her Florida high school · WPTV: Retired Delray Beach teacher reflects on helping integrate schools in 1961 · Andscape: Coco Gauff and family following familiar path to greatness · Tennis.com: Gauff thanks haters for adding gas to her fire · Al Jazeera: Gauff beats Sabalenka to claim French Open title · Al Jazeera: Muchova beats Gauff in tie-break thriller to reach first Wimbledon final · NBC Sports Bay Area: Gauff beats Pegula to win Cincinnati Open · Atlanta News First: Gauff rallies to reach US Open semifinals · Tennis Majors: Gauff saves match points against Andreeva · The Star (Reuters): Rybakina beats Gauff to book US Open final · Just Women's Sports: Coco Gauff withdraws from Wuhan Open · Punto de Break: Wuhan's reigning champion withdraws · WMBD (Field Level Media): Pegula, Gauff qualify for WTA Finals · WTA: Indian Wells to host the 2026 WTA Finals