Fansided

We just witnessed Coco Gauff’s superstar origin story at Wimbledon

By Josh Hill

US player Cori Gauff celebrates beating Slovenia's Polona Hercog during their women's singles third round match on the fifth day of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 5, 2019. (Photo by Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images)
US player Cori Gauff celebrates beating Slovenia's Polona Hercog during their women's singles third round match on the fifth day of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 5, 2019. (Photo by Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo credit should read DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Coco Gauff has arrived, and now is the time to get on board with the tennis world’s next superstar.

This Fourth of July weekend saw the arrival of a new American sports hero and the origin story of a tennis superstar.

All hail the new queen in town, Coco Gauff. Learn her name and learn it well.

Even for the uninitiated tennis fan, Gauff’s performance at Wimbledon on Friday is going to make her hard to forget. The 15-year-old phenom was already making a name for herself in the tennis world after taking down Venus Williams in the first-round but undeniably wedged herself into the consciousness of sports fans with an absolutely legendary third round match against Polona Hercog.

Down 5-2 early in the match, Gauff stormed back to tie things up as she traded blows with Hercog. It’s worth noting that this match was equally important for her Slovenian opponent, who had never before made it this far at Wimbledon.

Hercog, however, has been at this for a while. The fact that a seasoned veteran like her buckled to the will of Gauff only adds to her growing mythos.

She still has four more rounds to go before pulling off what would be one of the single greatest feats in sports history. A victory at Wimbledon would harken back to memories of watching Tiger Woods win The Masters in 1997 or Serena Williams win the U.S. Open in 1999 — both just 17-years old at the time of their victories.

Gauff, once again, is just 15-years old.

Age has never before been just a number than when considering the poise she showed. Her tenacity was undeniable and her swagger was infectious.

Gauff’s LeBron moment wasn’t just a cool viral highlight.

This has all the trademarks of a star being born. Gauff’s talent speaks for itself, but her aura is growing. Shots of her parents celebrating her points fired us up as much as cutaways to her hometown sports bar packed full of ecstatic onlookers.

There’s something special happening here. We’ve seen young tennis players pull of incredible upsets, only to have the dust settle on them. That’s why Gauff’s victory over Venus was only the preamble to something iconic.

We just witnessed the origin story of our next favorite sports superhero, and the story is far from over.

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