Coco Gauff is carrying Serena Williams’ legendary legacy into her Olympic debut in Paris — according to the US Open champion herself.
The 20-year-old American penned a moving letter to her younger self ahead of donning the red, white and blue for the first time in Olympic competition — one of the few goals she had left to check off her prodigious to-do list. Three years ago, a 17-year-old Gauff was devastated to miss the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19 on the eve of her departure to Japan, making her upcoming campaign in Paris something she says she’ll enjoy to the fullest.
“Behind a stream of tears, you’re going to wonder how you’ll ever be able to break the news to your team captain. Your teammates and friends will have to contend on behalf of your country without you,” Gauff wrote in the letter, published by the NBC Olympics website.
“With a new day though, you’ll have a new attitude. What else can you do? While your Olympic goal is seemingly on hold, people around the globe are in crises, battling COVID, with real pressure, real hardship and real-life struggles. You’re just missing a big tournament.
“The fresh perspective on your situation will make a new goal clear to you: qualifying for the 2024 Paris Games.”
Because of that emotional reaction to missing what was expected to be her first Games, Gauff wants her 17-year-old self to know that she’s “already won” by securing a berth in this year’s competition on the back of a run during the qualifying period that included her first WTA 1000 and WTA 500 titles, and her first major victory last summer at the US Open.
Always quick to raise her hand to compete for her country in Billie Jean King Cup play, and one of the Hologic WTA Tour’s most prolific doubles players, Gauff relishes competing in a team environment, and will be a threat to win multiple medals when the tennis competition gets underway in Paris this Saturday.
In that camp, she’s following in the footsteps of Williams, winner of four Olympic gold medals (one in singles and three in doubles with her sister, Venus Williams) who represented the U.S. in Olympic competition four times.
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“While tennis is an individual sport, you relish the relationships with your teammates,” Gauff wrote. “You’ve been lucky enough that your on-court relationships have turned into off-court friendships. One of those notable friendships is with your idol, Serena Williams. Serena was once just a stranger printed on a poster hanging in your room, and now you still can’t believe she’s a friend and mentor.
“Her profound impact on tennis, what it means to be a champion and to break barriers is a legacy you hope to uphold and carry with you into your first Olympic Games.”
From her first press conferences of the season, to an April cover story in Vogue magazine where she posed in a glittering gold dress, Gauff made no secret of her desire to be standing on the podium by the time the Olympic tennis event concludes — something she reiterated to herself in the first-person essay. But as she gets ready for the culmination of a “childhood dream,” she says she’s not solely focused on the result. She wants to “learn and … enjoy” all that awaits her.
“The excitement is overwhelming. You can’t wait to travel with your teammates, to take on the Olympic tennis tournament and hopefully increase the United States’ medal count that you continually check each Olympics,” she wrote.
“Besides the battle on the court, be sure to enjoy the whole experience outside the confines of Roland Garros. There will be athletes from across the world that you admire that you will have the opportunity to connect with. You can learn about new sports that have nothing to do with a baseline, backhand or the world of tennis.
“In your phone under your vision notes, you wrote that you want to win a medal at the Olympics. Gold, silver, bronze–it doesn’t matter. But you’ve already won, you’ve made your childhood dream of playing at the Olympics, representing the United States, a real reality. And now, finally, you get to enjoy it.”
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