Cori Gauff described beating Venus Williams at Wimbledon as “such a thrill” and revealed her “hand was shaking” when she came to the net to shake Williams’ hand. In 2019, a 15-year-old Gauff stunned seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams 6-4 6-4.
“Honestly, I didn’t realize I was about to play her. It all felt like a dream until we were walking through the corridor and they showed pictures of past champions, and you see her name and her picture up there a couple of times because she’s won it a lot.
That’s when I was like, ‘Wow, this is really about to happen.’ The whole match, I never looked at the scoreboard because I just didn’t want my mind to know that I was playing Venus Williams. I just wanted my mind to know I was playing some unknown figure and I think really into the match points when I realized, ‘Oh my gosh, I just beat Venus Williams.’
It was such a thrill. I remember my hand was shaking. People were saying how long I shook her hand. It didn’t feel that long to me, but when I look back, it was pretty long. I literally grabbed her hand,” Gauff recalled in an interview with Her Way, per Sportskeeda.
Gauff grew up looking up to the Williams sisters
Gauff, 18, is now one of the brightest tennis talents in American tennis. Even though Gauff is just 18, she has been around the Tour for a couple of years now. Since introducing herself to the tennis world during 2019 Wimbledon, Gauff has spoken several times about how Venus and Serena Williams inspired her to believe her dream of being a tennis star was possible.
Gauff defeated Venus at 2019 Wimbledon but she never got a chance to play Serena. Before the start of the 2022 US Open, Gauff admitted she would like to get a chance to play Serena. Unfortunately for Gauff, she didn’t get a chance to also play Serena.
Venus and Serena have done major things in tennis and it is not a secret that Gauff also wants to win multiple Grand Slams and reach the world No 1 spot.
