Coco Gauff on emulating "one and true and only GOAT" Serena Williams: "Just want to win as many Slams as possible"

Coco Gauff recently opened up on her aim to win a maximum number of Grand Slams in the future. The 20-year-old revealed she is inspired by Serena Williams and aims to follow in her footsteps

Gauff began her Roland Garros campaign in a dominant fashion against Julia Avdeeva. The World No. 3 came out firing and decisively defeated the Russian 6-1, 6-1, securing her spot in the second round of the French Open.

After the triumph, Gauff sat down for a post-match interview with Tennis Channel. When asked about her dream of becoming the world's greatest tennis player, Gauff mentioned her mindset to achieve that goal.

Coco Gauff expressed her ambition to become one of the greatest tennis players, inspired by Serena Williams, whom she regards as the true GOAT (Greatest of All Time). She emphasized the importance of dreaming big, a lesson instilled in her from a young age. She was quoted as saying [3:00]:

"I think its something I definitely want to trend to. I think for me, I just want to win as many slams as possible and being inspired by Serena Williams. I think she is the one and true and only goat. But I think just being inspired by her, it just allowed me to make my dreams as limitless as possible. And I was taught from a young age to make your dreams as big as possible. Even if they don't feel realistic just because I don't know, I feel like you can box yourself in if you say, I just want to get this, and I just want to get that."

Gauff then shared an anecdote about the advice she received from tennis legend Mary Joe Fernandez before her 2019 Wimbledon match against Venus Williams. Fernandez told her to enter matches aiming to win, not just to see how many games she wanted. This shift in mindset helped Gauff approach all her tournaments with an aim to win.

"And If I went in my every match of my career, which is something that Mary Joe Fernandez taught me before I played Venus, she told me, you don't go into the match seeing how many games you wanted . You want to win and go into the believing that you can win and honesty, my mindset before that was to see how many games I could get. And when she told me that, I was like okay, I have to go in to win. And that's what I just ended up taking that little thing and applying it to everything that I do and every tournament that I go in and it's not I just want to make the quarterfinals and make the semifinals. I go in believing that I can win."

Gauff, who looks to win her second major, will face Tamara Zidansek in the second round of the clay court slam.

Coco Gauff disheartened upon Rafael Nadal's first-round exit from French Open

Coco Gauff reflected on her emotions after watching Rafael Nadal bow out in the first round of the French Open. Speaking to Tennis Channel, Gauff said she was glad that Nadal didn't shed tears, as it would have made her emotional too. The American couldn't cheer for Nadal in the Court Philippe Chartier due to her clash against Julia Avdeeva.

"I was watching it in the press room, but like an office and we were just watching the speech. Luckily, he didn't cry because I think if he cried, I would've cried. I was getting a little bit emotional because it's literally all I've ever known my whole life is him winning here so it just sucks to see." Gauff Said.

Rafael Nadal lost to Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in what was probably his final Roland Garros campaign. Nevertheless, the Spaniard revealed after the loss that he was still unsure if this would be his last Roland Garros. Nadal's next major will be the Wimbledon Championships in July.