It was the first chapter of a story that is still being written, and six years later, the American performer has been rewarded for her hard work with two Grand Slam titles. <\/p>\n
Gauff\u2019s game has been compared to that of Serena\u2019s<\/a> previously, and when she managed to win her maiden Grand Slam aged 21. <\/p>\n Venus is also a huge fan of Gauff<\/a>, and perhaps the defeat to her at Wimbledon in 2019 was the moment she realised that there was a new wave of youngsters coming through to knock her off her perch. <\/p>\n Being compared to such legendary figures is never easy, however, and one comparison with Serena<\/a> really got Gauff\u2019s back up. <\/p>\n To be compared to such a stalwart of tennis and an iconic figure is tough going for any player. <\/p>\n When Gauff won the US Open<\/a> by beating Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> in 2023, clearly she felt a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. <\/p>\n The youngster had already lost to Iga Swiatek<\/a> in the 2022 French Open<\/a> final and people were starting to speculate over whether she\u2019d win her first one at a younger age than Serena won her first. <\/p>\n It was a comparison unappreciated by Gauff, who felt it pressured her too much. <\/p>\n She said in her post-match interview: \u201cIt\u2019s been difficult. I mean, it\u2019s been a long journey to this point. I wasn\u2019t a fully developed player, and I still think I have a lot of development to go. I think people were putting a lot of pressure on me to win. I felt that at 15, I had to win a slam at 15. I think that was, you know, not the mistake, because everything led to this moment, so there were no mistakes.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that was, like, a little bit of the pressure that I was feeling. Now I just realise that I just need to go out there and try my best. I mean, it was to the point where I remember I lost when I was 17, and there was a stat, they were like, Oh, she\u2019s not going to win a slam before Serena\u2019s age. It was stuff like that that I felt like I had a time limit on when I should win one, and if I won one after a certain age, it wouldn\u2019t be an achievement.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019s just crazy the amount of things that I have heard or seen about myself, but I\u2019m really happy with how I\u2019ve been able to manage it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Serena comparisons unhelpful to Gauff<\/p>\n Williams was superhuman, and it feels very unlikely that any woman on the tour right now will get close to her haul of 23 major titles. <\/p>\n With that in mind, it\u2019s harsh that Gauff had to carry around these comparisons in the early stages of her career and to a certain extent, even now <\/p>\n![\"Coco](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2231845640-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU\/AFP via Getty ImagesThe comparison to Serena Williams that Coco Gauff didn\u2019t like<\/p>\n