Just before heading to the French Open, Coco Gauff won the singles and doubles titles at a clay-court event in Parma, Italy, pushing her ranking to a career-best No. 25.
Still just 17, Gauff is the youngest American woman in the WTA's Top 25 since none other than Serena Williams way back in 1998. And Gauff will be seeded at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time when action begins Sunday in Paris.
"It's cool to have a high ranking, but that's not my goal. To be No. 1 would be cool, don't get me wrong. But my goal is to win Grand Slams," Gauff said during a video conference from Roland Garros on Friday. "I'm sure with the Grand Slams, a No. 1 ranking would come, but it's not something that I focus on. My goal is just to win Grand Slams — and all the numbers and all that will come with that."
She is part of a group of tennis players fans and opponents should be paying attention to as they try to rise to the top and join youngsters such as Iga Swiatek and Bianca Andreescu, both of whom already won a major title as a teen in recent years.
Here is a look at a quartet of the teen set in tennis who eventually could end up in the spotlight
https://apnews.com/article/europe-french-open-tennis-health-coronavirus-pandemic-cee197cc032ec6ea3bed751409715be4 as the sport's standard-bearers —
https://apnews.com/article/europe-paris-health-coronavirus-pandemic-french-open-18e80484e4f7f114729d5bdbc7cdd315, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic — move from their mid-30s to their late 30s and, soon enough, their 40s.
