As American tennis prodigy continues her meteoric rise on the WTA Tour, compatriot and tennis icon Venus Williams has professed her desire to see the youngster win each time she's on court.
Gauff burst unto the tennis scene when she defeated Williams at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, at just 15 years of age. The Atlanta native has gone to on achieve great things on tour, winning the 2023 US Open and reaching a career-high ranking of World No.2.
During a promotional tour for her new book, 'Strive: 8 Steps to find your awesome', Williams spoke about Gauff after being shown a picture of the two Americans competing as a doubles team at the 2021 French Open.
"I mean it's so exciting to see her just like… explode," said the former World No.1 when shown the picture of the Tamron Hall Show. "She is fantastic, and of course, I hope she wins every match."
Furthermore, Williams spoke about the importance of having a dream, and how a person needed to go about ensuring they achieved their goals.
"Exactly. And you have to dream," continued Williams. "Doesn't mean that there won't be turns all the way of the dream or someday there's gonna be ups and downs but as long as you have your north star…And there's times when you have to figure out how to do it another way. But all that is a part of… you have to dream big."
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.