Coco Gauff was announced as the next Serena Williams before she won her first Grand Slam, and according to Serena’s former coach Rick March, “that’s a big leap.”
This comparison is always difficult to support because each person is an individual. Obviously, you can make comparisons between players, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Just because one player does something doesn’t mean other players will do the same thing, even if they were directly inspired by it.
Coco Gauff shot to fame as a teenager when she defeated Venus Williams at Wimbledon. Comparisons immediately started circulating. The next this, the next that; number one among them is the next Serena Williams.
As bold as this prediction is, you can still see it. Both broke out at an early age, although Goff still refuses to draw comparisons. As time went on, it became increasingly clear that this comparison was a bad one.
Goff’s development has been much slower. She will finally win her first Grand Slam this year, and she’s only 19 years old. The only reason it seems slow is that she’s been playing since she was 15. She’s got plenty of time, but reaching the heights of Serena Williams seems a bit too much.
In an exclusive conversation with Tennis Unlimited, Serena Williams’ former coach Rick March spoke about Gauff and her close relationship with Serena Williams. According to Macci, this comparison is a pretty big jump.
When people say Serena. I mean, it’s a jump. I don’t think you can go to something like that. Let’s get back to the U.S. Open. Although she performed well and won all of these matches, she almost lost the first round of the U.S. Open.
March said that while it may be a jump, there’s still potential. He was impressed with the way she handled the big moments at the U.S. Open, which undoubtedly helped her ultimately win the title. Matches like this show she can dominate. Whether she actually becomes a ruler remains to be seen.
I told a lot of people about it, seven o’clock, Ashe Stadium, Billie Jean King, equal money (celebration), incredible pressure, she won in three sets and people just said how bad she played . I have a different view on this. It was a nugget that she would keep in her pocket for the rest of her career.
March said the U.S. Open win has definitely changed that narrative because expectations are now higher. She will be expected to compete in every Grand Slam event she participates in in the future. This adds to the pressure she has to figure it out.
You can’t script such an environment and then be successful. She then moved on to several other three-set matches. Let’s get started, she’s the U.S. Open champion. Now the whole narrative has changed.