Goal is to win Wimbledon, says tournament’s new darling Gauff

London: Cori Gauff, or ‘Coco’ as she prefers to be called, has seen her life metamorphose -- from successful junior player to the new darling of Wimbledon -- all in a matter of a few days.

At 15, the youngest ever qualifier for Wimbledon is not content with just beating five-time champion Venus Williams. Gauff makes no bones about her ambitions at the tournament. She now wants to win the title.

“My goal is to win it,” she said. “I said this before: I want to be the greatest.

“My dad told me that I could do this when I was eight.

The American teen, who was not even born when Williams won her first two Wimbledon singles titles, showed not an ounce of fear on Court One, making light of the 24 years age difference and her ranking of 313 as she eased to a 6-4, 6-4 win.

“I’m still, like, not 100% confident. But you never know what happens.

Gauff said she was determined to make the most of her opportunities.

“I mean, like my motto is just like wing it,” she said.

“I’ve said that before. This is kind of a sad thing, we’re all going to die one day, I just want to make the most of it.”

Williams, whose exploits along with her younger sister Serena inspired Gauff to take up the sport, made no secret of how far Gauff could go.

“I think the sky’s the limit, it really is,” said Williams.

“Just have fun. Enjoy life. That’s all you can do.”

Gauff, who said Roger Federer had been a big help too re-energising her and could claim some credit for her winning the French Open junior title last year, said she had finally been able to muster the courage to address one of the Williams sisters after twice failing to prior to that.

“I was just telling her thank you for everything she’s done,” said Gauff.

Gauff sank into her chair and cried in the immediate aftermath of the victory.

Agence France-Presse