Former British player Mark Petchey defended his statement that Coco Gauff is the greatest female athlete in the history of tennis.
Coco Gauff's incredible North American tour led her to her highest WTA ranking as world No. 3, and she won three titles: her first WTA 500 in Washington, then her first WTA 1000 in Cincinnati, and finally her first Grand Slam at the US Open defeating new world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
In a recent episode of the Inside In podcast, former tennis player Mark Petchey praised Coco Gauff's achievements and even referred to her as "the best women’s athlete to ever play tennis." Former American tennis player Tim Mayotte responded to the comments, saying it's too early to make such a claim.
"Yikes! Guys! Please! Its abit early. If she lost at the Open....," Mayotte posted on X.
Yikes! Guys! Please! Its abit early. If she lost at the Open....
"I don't think we've seen a better athlete in women's tennis." Is @CocoGauff the best athlete in the history of the WTA? @_markpetchey thinks so. Here's why ➡️ link.chtbl.com/wwCNYXe5?sid=T…
However, Petchey reiterated his point and illustrated it by citing Gael Monfils on the male tour:
"Tim, I love your opinions about tennis firstly and because of that I wanted to reply. I was making the observation I believe Coco is the best female athlete I have ever seen. What does winning Majors have to do with that?" he posted.
"When we talk about the best male tennis athletes most agree Gael Monfils is the best we have had recently. No one then starts talking about his lack of Majors but many agree he is arguably the best," he added.
"I don’t believe the metric for best ever athlete should be Majors. However, as you are someone who believes in technique as much as I do, isn’t the fact Coco won the US Open with a forehand, most agree is suboptimal in terms of technique, further testament to the argument she is could be the best tennis female athlete ever?" he said about youngstar Coco Gauff.
Tim, I love your opinions about tennis firstly and because of that I wanted to reply. I was making the observation I believe Coco is the best female athlete I have ever seen. What does winning Majors have to do with that? When we talk about the best male tennis athletes most…
