Getting to know Wimbledon 2019 debutantes Gauff, McNally and Flink - WTA Tennis

Tennis wasn't Gauff's first sport: her father Corey played Division 1 basketball, and dreamed that all of his children would take up the sport as well. The team element didn't sit well with young Cori, though. "I like tennis because you can only blame yourself and you can only control yourself," she says. "Sometimes when I was on the basketball court I'd be trying to control other people - like, c'mon man, bring the ball up. I like the individual aspect - I like doubles too, but just one person on my team is enough."

The youngster's individualism extends to her attitude to on-court coaching, too. "I'm fine without it," she states. "My dad is my coach and I hear him all the time anyway. And when he came on court to coach me [in juniors] it wasn't anything tactical, he was just telling me to stay calm and focused. I've been hearing that for five years so I think I have it drilled into my mind by now."

But Gauff does credit her father for what she describes as a "mental growth" in the two weeks before Wimbledon. In Roland Garros qualifying, where she defeated Ankita Raina before losing to Kaja Juvan, she had "put so much expectation and pressure on myself", and her memories were mostly of being nervous. "But after this past week at home my dad was like, you're 15 and playing Grand Slams," the World No.301 reveals. "There are many people who dream of playing them so you should just enjoy yourself. And once you enjoy yourself you'll be able to have good results. I finally listened to him, I guess."

Read more: Gauff stuns Bolsova, Juvan wins epic in Wimbledon qualifying

Gauff can often seem mature beyond her years - she herself says she feels like an 18-year-old, something she ascribes to being the elder sister to two brothers, Cody ("He doesn't listen to me," sighs Gauff) and Cameron ("He follows everything we do," she says with somewhat more satisfaction). Even in school, where literature is her favorite subject, she says "learning just comes more naturally to me than other people". Having had to sit a science exam at 11pm the night before her final qualifying round this week, Gauff confidently predicted herself a B grade. But there are flashes of a youthful spirit, not least when she revealed that her mind hasn't always been on tennis during her wins.

"Before the point started I kept thinking about song lyrics," she admitted, with Jaden's 'Icon' and Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' being the earworms in question. "It wasn't a pre-match playlist - it was an on-court playlist in my head!"

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https://www.wtatennis.com/news/getting-know-wimbledon-2019-debutantes-gauff-mcnally-and-flink

2019-06-28 14:16:50Z
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