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Cori Gauff becomes the youngest player in Open Era history to qualify for Wimbledon draw

Stephanie Ayako Karaki Harris
Contributor
Cori Gauff in action on day eight of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Wimbledon.
Cori Gauff says her inspiration is Serena Williams. (PA)

At 15 years and four months, Cori Gauff has become the youngest person ever in the Open Era of tennis to qualify for the main Wimbledon draw.

In her three qualifying rounds, the American comfortably beat her opposition without dropping a set - in her final match she fought off the 21-year-old Belgian Greet Minnen 6-1, 6-1 in just 55 minutes.

In her post-match interview with the official Wimbledon website, she attributed her inspiration to play tennis professionally with seeing Serena Williams on the TV.

She explained: “Serena Williams has always been my idol, and Venus, they’re the reason why I wanted to pick up the tennis racquet. I’m just super happy that they both and thankful that they chose to play tennis.

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“[On the match] My coach just told me to enjoy it, he told me I’m 15 and I’m playing Wimbledon, what else could you ask for, so that was my mind towards the match. I didn’t really feel any nerves the whole time.

“It’s so special [to be playing at Wimbledon].”

She will be the youngest player to contest the ladies’ singles draw at the tournament since a 15-year-old Laura Robson did so in 2009.

And whilst she may be making history out on the courts, she is still a school student and the night before her final Wimbledon Qualifying round, the 15-year-old sat her science test remotely for her school in Florida at 11pm - she said she was rather confident she would get a ‘B’ for it.

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