Inside Coco Gauff incredible rise to Wimbledon contender with Serena Williams lesson

“Iga was just too good,” she reflected. “It’s one of those matches that, yes, in some moments, I could have played better. But she really didn’t give me anything. Every time I thought I hit a good ball, it wasn’t.”

Since then, though, Gauff has risen from challenger to champion, finishing this year as the best on clay with 18 tour wins on the crushed red brick and rising to world number two.

It took just one year following her Paris disappointment to clinch her first major singles title, becoming the first American teenager since Serena Williams in 1999 to claim the US Open title with 2-6 6-3 6-2 victory over Aryna Sabalenka in 2023.

“Concrete jungle where dreams are made of….” read Gauff’s social media as she invoked Alicia Keys’ words to celebrate her New York triumph.

It was a statement win that catapulted her into the stratosphere, and sent expectations for the then 19-year-old sky high.

"I feel like I'm in a little bit of shock at the moment," Gauff said. "God puts you through tribulations and trials and that makes this even sweeter. I'm thankful for this moment. I don't have any words."

Runs to the Australian and French Open semi-finals followed in 2024, but a second major title remained elusive under the weight of new pressure and the dominance of Sabalenka and Swiatek.

That was until victories over Australian Open champion Madison Keys and home favourite Lois Boisson in Paris set up a date with Sabalenka in the Roland-Garros final, and it was an encounter that felt far less daunting than her meeting with Swiatek three years before.

“I was crying before the match [in 2022] and so nervous that I couldn’t breathe. I was like, ‘If I can’t handle this, how am I going to handle it again?’” Gauff reflected.

“Then obviously the US Open happened, and now I just felt really ready today, and I was, like: ‘I’m just going to leave it all out there, and regardless of what happens, I can leave proud.’”

But windy conditions and a shaky start could easily have seen her pre-game determination fall by the wayside and proceedings go the way of 2022.

And it appeared they would when Sabalenka took a 4-1 lead in the first set as Gauff looked panicked and struggled for consistency.

But this time the American rallied, bringing the score back to 4-4, and while she would eventually lose the set 7-6 it was an indication of the fight she was about to bring.

Just as her athleticism had helped her fight back in New York, that tenacity prevailed once more in the tough conditions as a gutsy display was sprinkled with moments of brilliance - her backhand down the line proved devastatingly accurate.

Gauff broke Sabalenka nine times as the Belarussian made 70 errors, 40 more than the 21-year-old, and went on to win the second and third set 6-2 6-4.

It moves Gauff into an elite group of seven active players on the circuit with multiple Grand Slam singles titles, and she is the youngest by three years.

For such a precocious talent, the expectation is often that the player focuses single-mindedly on their sport with little time for anything else.

But Gauff bucks the trend to speak with as much eloquence off the court as she does on it.

In the aftermath of one of the best moments of her career, Gauff had the presence of mind to reference the USA’s political predicament and her own role in providing representation.

“Obviously there’s a lot going on in our country right now with things,” Gauff told the press.

“But just to be able to be a representation of people that look like me in America who maybe don’t feel as supported during this time period … just being that reflection of hope and light for those people.”

It is not the first time that Gauff has shown such political and social awareness. While other athletes often take time to find their voice, it has been a hallmark of her character from the start.

At just 16, two years after she had played and won her first professional match, Gauff spoke at a Black Lives Matter protest in Florida following the murder of George Floyd.

"I was eight years old when Trayvon Martin was killed. So why am I here at 16 still demanding change?” she said as reported by Reuters.

"It breaks my heart because I'm fighting for the future for my brothers. I'm fighting for the future for my future kids, I'm fighting for the future for my future grandchildren."

On both fronts, fans can likely only expect more from Gauff who has consistently provided familiar echoes of her heroes, the Williams sisters.

In fact, the links are uncanny. Since announcing herself with victory over Venus at Wimbledon, there is not much Gauff can do but to earn comparison with such greats.

In France, for example, she became the first women’s player since Venus to come back from a set down in a Grand Slam final against the world number one.

She was also the youngest to claim the French Open Women’s Singles title since Serena in 2002.

"Venus. Serena, Venus, Serena, Venus. That's all I watched growing up," Gauff admitted to the WTA.

"Sometimes being a woman, a black woman in the world, you settle for less. Serena taught me that, from watching her, she never settled for less. I can't remember a moment in her career or life that she settled for less.”

It has led the Atlanta-born star to follow closely in her idols footsteps, even training with Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, at the age of 10. Aged nine, she was even cast to play a young Serena in a Delta Airlines commercial.

Prophetically, Serena’s first title came at the US Open in 1999 - the year she turned 19 - and her second title at the French Open in 2002.

That same year, she would go on to win a third Grand Slam singles title on the grass courts of southwest London.

London’s now calling for music-lover Gauff, and if such an uncanny trajectory is to continue, she may want to familiarise herself with The Clash’s iconic hit.