"I didn't even look at the scoreboard, I didn't want to see Venus Williams' name"- Coco Gauff recalls Wimbledon battle with idol

Reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff recently stated that during her first round encounter with Venus Williams at Wimbledon in 2019, she tried to think of her opponent as a faceless and anonymous person to hold her nerves against her childhood idol.

Gauff, who was only 15 years old then, famously beat Venus at the match announcing her arrival in professional tennis and catapulting her into international stardom.

She opened up about her famous match against Venus Williams, a five-time Wimbledon champion, in an interview with fashion magazine Vogue World. She elaborated on how she managed to keep her composure during the encounter.

"A lot of times during that match I didn’t even look at the scoreboard because I didn’t want to see her (Venus) name," Gauff said in the interview.

She said that her father Corey also helped her while facing Venus at Wimbledon. He even told her to consider the Centre Court as Pompey Park. Pompey Park is a place where, for a time, Serena and Venus practiced as kids, long before Gauff was born. Interestingly, Pompey Park was also the place where Gauff practiced tennis as a kid.

"'Pretend it’s Pompey Park,' he would say, or, referring to the court, 'The lines are the same,'” Gauff recalled.

But beating Venus required additional mind tricks, she said. Players should walk down a long hall lined up with photos of Wimbledon champions to reach the Centre Court. As Gauff walked ahead of Venus, who was 39 years old then, she kept passing photos of Venus on the wall.

“She’s coming up, like, multiple times. And she’s walking behind me,” the reigning US Open champion said.

Gauff said she found ways to distract herself in an attempt to stave off intimidation and take Venus out of the equation.

“When I walked on the court I put the music really loud in my ears because I didn’t want to look at, or hear, the crowd," she said.

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"She taught me the importance of letting your emotions out on the court" - Coco Gauff on what she learned from Venus Williams

Coco Gauff and Venus Williams at the French Open 2021

In the same interview with Vogue World, Coco Gauff said that she learned a lot from her idol Venus Williams. Venus and Gauff teamed up to play in the women's doubles at the French Open in 2021. The pair, however, lost in the first round of the tournament.

“She taught me the importance of humility, and the importance of enjoying life outside of tennis, and also the importance of letting your emotions out on the court,” Gauff said.

Gauff also broke her racket in a tense quarterfinal match against Barbora Krejcikova during the French Open in 2021. She was leading in the first set and even had five set points but failed to convert any of them, eventually losing in straight sets to Krejcikova who went on to win the title.

“And she was like, ‘That’s okay. That’s what you needed to do in that moment.’ ” Gauff recalled Venus commenting about her reaction to the loss.