Coco Gauff vows not to get ‘big-headed’ as stats continue to align with GOAT Serena Williams

The list of statistics linking Coco Gauff and tennis great Serena Williams is getting longer and longer by the tournament.

Following the 19-year-old Gauff’s staggering 6-0, 6-2 win over Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-final of the US Open, another couple of achievements were added to that list.

Gauff is the first American teenager to reach the last four of the US Open since Williams did so in 2001. She is also the first American teenager to reach multiple Grand Slam semi-finals since Williams achieved the feat at the 1999 US Open and 2000 Wimbledon.

And we could go on and on and on.

Asked what it feels like to hear her name in the same sentence as the 23-time Grand Slam winner Williams, Gauff replied: “It means a lot to me. I mean, being in any sentence with her is great.

“She’s the greatest player of all time, and I’m not anything close to that yet, so I’m just really honoured to be in the same sentence as her. It’s something that I’m used to a lot. So I’m not going to sit here and be like, oh, I’m shocked.

“But I feel like a lot of the stats have aligned with her and people find new things to think about. I was the first teenager in a quarter-final and now semis, so I’m guessing if I win they’re going to be like final, so it’s just going to keep going.

“But like I said, I never take it for granted. She’s my idol and I think if you told me when I was younger that I would be in the same stat lines as her, I would freak out. So I’m still trying not to think about it a lot because I don’t want to get my head big or add pressure, but it is a cool moment to have that stat alongside her.”

Gauff, who faces Karolina Muchova in the semi-final, is having the summer of her life as she has now won 16 out of 17 matches as she came into the US Open on the back of winning the Citi DC Open and the Cincinnati Open.

The American believes her recent run has helped her to improve one key area.

“I think what’s helping is playing from DC to Montreal to Cincinnati, that was a long type of swing,” she said.

“I think doing well in those tournaments built my mental endurance. Always had the physical endurance, but it built my mental endurance. So right now I feel emotionally fresh, which I think was the problem in the past. In Grand Slams, I would emotionally be drained, but obviously I’m physically fresh and emotionally fresh, and I think that just came from experience. And I think this is one of the harder runs I’ve had to the quarterfinal stage.

“Obviously never got to the semis, but I don’t know, I just feel so fresh, to be honest. And I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been tricking myself or maybe this is over. I’m going to hit a wall, but, like, really proud of how I’m able to get through these matches.”

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