Image Credits: Coco Gauff – © Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports/ Serena Williams – © Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports
Serena Williams has been an idol to many, including the young and prosperous Coco Gauff. At age 10, Gauff traveled to France to train under the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy. The main rationale behind it was that Patrick Mouratoglou had coached Serena Williams to 10 Grand Slam victories, and Gauff has always idolized Williams. She wanted to follow Williams’ footsteps as a kid back then, and she is still doing so years later.
Coco Gauff and the Patrick Mouratoglou Tennis Academy posted a few pictures and videos on Instagram of the American youngster training. Gauff is most likely in Sardinia at the moment, where one of the branches of the academy is located. While her aim is to prepare for the French Open later this month, her next tournament is the Italian Open 2024 in Rome.
Gauff was practicing on clay and will face Ashlyn Kreuger in her second-round match. Wearing a white shirt and black shorts, the US Open 2023 champion was seen enjoying her practice session, using her reflexes to earn a point.
The Patrick Mouratoglou Tennis Academy wrote, “Give it all during the rest of the clay season. Hard work never stops.”
https://www.instagram.com/mouratoglou_tennis_academy/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=53da15f4-7a45-476d-8d98-03fbcd6af20f
Coco Gauff’s decision to travel to Sardinia and train could turn out to be a wise and pragmatic one. A similar approach also helped Serena Williams nearly a decade ago. As Patrick Mouratoglou recently recalled, Serena Williams won the 2013 and the 2015 French Open under him.
But it was the 2013 title that came after more than a decade for Williams. It was her passion, dedication, hard work, and sacrifice that won her the title. Maybe the same happens for Coco Gauff.
Other notable players like Marcos Baghdatis, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Yanina Wickmayer, and Grigor Dimitrov among others, have all trained under Patrick Mouratoglou. More recently, Danish player Holger Rune is currently training under Mouratoglou since the Frenchman is his head coach.
https://www.instagram.com/mouratoglou_tennis_academy/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=e719002f-d1c3-4e18-8c5b-232e52b30eed
Rune’s performances on clay have been impressive under the influential French coach. At age 21, Rune has already won the Munich Open twice and finished second at the Italian Open and the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2023.
Patrick Mouratoglou and Coco Gauff Have Developed a Strong Bond
Both Patrick Mouratoglou and Coco Gauff have shared words of admiration for one another previously. After her win against Marta Kostyuk at the Australian Open 2024 quarterfinals, Coco Gauff spoke to the media. There, one reporter asked her about moving to Paris at such a young age, despite having great facilities in Florida. Gauff even has the coordinates of the park in Florida where she grew up playing. This is what she said.
“Patrick Mouratoglou. I mean, he was coaching Serena Williams at the time and she was my idol and it wasn’t really a decision, like I got invited over there when I was 10, so it wasn’t like I made the decision. It was just my parents got presented this great opportunity to go for a week and all expenses paid for. I’d never left the country and yeah, then went to Paris for a week. We did this process called Champ’seed… and he just picked the best of the best to kind of help fund our careers essentially…,” Gauff said.
In another interview, Patrick Mouratoglou spoke very highly of Coco Gauff.
Mouratoglou said, “When she came to my Academy when she was 10 years old, for a week to be tested and to be part of a program. After a week, I said to my team, ‘Listen, this one is, she’s something else. We have todo something for her because she can be amazing. I could feel her personality that is really unique. Someone, at 10 years old, was already so driven and so confident into her ability to become a top player; working so hard, so much also physical abilities. I mean, the whole package was just incredible.”
He further continued, “I didn’t name it but this is important. She is an incredible competitor, which is also so important in our job. So, she has the whole package…”
If their collaboration is fruitful, Coco Gauff should win many clay titles like the French Open and the Italian Open in the future.
