“I learned I was capable of winning a Grand Slam”: a confident Coco Gauff checks in with CNN

Coco Gauff is undeniably the United States’ brightest young tennis star, one who comes into 2022 with plenty of expectations after making her major breakthrough at last year’s Roland Garros.

“I learned I was capable of winning a Grand Slam,” she told CNN of her quarterfinal run, one that made her the youngest woman to go that far at a major tournament since idol Venus Williams in 1997. “When you make the quarterfinals of a Slam it means you’re one of the eight best players in the world at that time. Hopefully I can get an even better result next time.”

Gauff was already in the midst of a meteoric rise that began at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, where she stunned Williams en route to the fourth round.

“I’m inspired by both [Venus and Serena]," Gauff said. “Not only their games but how they handle themselves off the court is something I look up to. There’s not much representation of people who look like me in the sport, so for me as a young girl, seeing them dominate and do it so elegantly inspired me.”

She scored another major upset the following year at the Australian Open, where she knocked out defending champion Naomi Osaka.

Following her Roland Garros run, she fell one match shy of a major triumph in women’s doubles, finishing runner-up at the US Open alongside good friend Caty McNally.

Starting this year at a career-high of No. 16, the 17-year-old acknowledged the increased pressure from those around her.

“I try my best not to think about what other people expect of me, but it’s definitely different when people expect you to win compared to when you’re an underdog. As I continued to win matches, it wasn’t a shock I was winning to people and when I lost, people were more disappointed than before.”

Gauff has endured her share of disappointments of late; after a bright start to the season that featured a close encounter with world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty and a run to the semifinals in Sydney, she fell in the first round of the Australian Open and again at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where the CNN interview took place. She'll face Shelby Rogers on Monday in Doha.

Still, the teenager appears poised and aware of her power to inspire others towards a greater good.

“I want to stand up for people who look like me and don’t have a voice,” she said of her continued efforts on behalf of Black Lives Matter and fight for racial justice. “I just hold myself to be a role model for my brothers. Their opinion of me matters more than anything in the world.”

Check out the full CNN interview here.