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Cori Gauff’s WTA Journey Begins This Week
39 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Scoop
By Scoop Malinowski
One of the most ballyhooed American juniors in years has embarked on her professional tennis career.
Recently turned 14, Cori Gauff, stunned the tennis world at last year’s junior girls US Open as a 13 year old, where she beat the fifth best under 18 junior in the world Carson Branstine in straight sets and reached all the way to the final. The Atlanta-born, Delray Beach resident is playing her first ITF professional tournament this week in Osprey, Florida.
This week Gauff has won her first two matches of qualifying rounds at the $25,000 ITF pro event, defeating 19 year old Naomi Chileshe of Zambia 60 60 and 16 year old Csilla Fodor of Vietnam 63 64.
The five-foot, ten-inch Gauff has one more quali round to go – to reach the main draw, where she can earn prize money and valuable WTA points, she must beat 24 year old Alice Garcia of Brazil who is currently ranked 1059 in the WTA.
Cori “Coco” Gauff is one of the most highly touted juniors in the world, having earned a Nike contract at age ten. She led Team USA to the World Junior Tennis championship in Protejov, Czech Republic. Her parents are former athletes – dad Corey was guard at George Tech (he still holds the record for most steals in a game) and mom Candi was an elite 110 meter hurdler.
Gauff is so highly regarded in the junior tennis world, two years ago at Eddie Herr a respected tennis insider asked me if I watched her play and if I did a Biofile interview with her yet. When I said yes I had seen her play but did not do a Biofile, he replied, “You better get her now…”, implying that she might get so big and so popular, I won’t be able to talk with her one on one in a year or two.
Well, I spotted Gauff watching the ATP action by herself at Delray Beach last year and we did a Biofile then. And she spoke with more intelligence and better vocabulary than some of the WTA pros. A very well educated, polite, intelligent, thoughtful girl already.
I personally think, after seeing her play, how she can win big matches against far more experienced players already, but especially most importantly how she conducts and carries herself, that the sky is the limit for Cori Gauff. She is already an amazing world class player at 14, just imagine what she will be capable of when she is 20 and has years of experience against the best players in the world.
Stay tuned for the Osprey ITF results this week…
catherine · May 22, 2018 at 3:06 pm
I watched a match v Anisimova at the USO 2017 on Youtube and it’s so hard to tell at Cori’s age. She can go on to do great things or she can blow out. I just hope that those around her are level headed. I also assume she won’t be able to play more than a certain number of pro events at 14. What about her schooling ?
Scoop Malinowski · May 22, 2018 at 3:12 pm
Gauff lost 1R in singles and doubles at AO this year. I think her parents are both teachers. Having chatted with her for about ten minutes I can say she is very bright, well educated and has a good head. She’s definitely well rounded and not just some tennis machine. The parents are doing a fine job so far. Anisimova is another teen phenom who is older and bigger and stronger than Gauff. Not a bad loss at all to lose to Anisimova. I remember three years ago at Eddie Herr Daniel Vacek was touting her as being the next big thing. Anisimova was already well known in the inner tennis circles at age 12. I guess they know the real intricacies of what separates the young future stars from the also rans.
catherine · May 22, 2018 at 3:30 pm
I haven’t been that impressed with what I’ve seen of Anisimova. Sorry if I seem to pour cold water on promising young players but I’ve seen a few come and go as I’m sure you have too.
Nevertheless I’ll be keeping an eye on Gauff.
Scoop Malinowski · May 22, 2018 at 5:10 pm
Catherine, these juniors play some bad matches on their journey. At US Open last year Marta Kostyuk lost her first set in first round of juniors to a girl from some small country in Africa that I had never heard of. She managed to come back and beat the no namer and a few months later shocked the world in Melbourne AO main draw. Gotta take the good with the bad and accept these inconsistent results by top juniors. Ansimova is definitely the real deal and so is Gauff and of course Kostyuk.
Scoop Malinowski · May 22, 2018 at 6:11 pm
Heather Watson ends four month, eight match losing streak in style with a third set tiebreaker win vs K Bondarenko 7-3 in the deathbreaker at Nuremberg Cup.
catherine · May 23, 2018 at 2:16 am
Heather plays Stollar next in Nuremberg so she’ll probably be on her way. But it’s nice to see Heather get a win, she’s been struggling the last year or so.
Raining in N’berg, Paris and elsewhere in Europe. SS still stuck on 3 all third set.
Re juniors, it would be good if someone from Africa (and living in Africa) came along, it’s the Forgotten Continent tennis wise, because of political instability > financial difficulties > climate etc I imagine.
Sport’s being used in countries like Rwanda to help reconciliation after civil conflict, football and cricket mostly, don’t see why someone, or some group, couldn’t do the same with tennis. Perhaps they do ? We don’t hear much from Africa.
catherine · May 23, 2018 at 7:42 am
Exit Sloane to Putintseva in N’berg, in close 3 setter. So she’ll be hitting the practice courts in Paris after all.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2018 at 8:55 am
I wonder if Watson is subconsciously losing or affected by that her boyfriend is a struggling pro ranked around 400 Lloyd Glasspool? She’s a very good player who has won a WTA title in Hobart. The better she does the wider the gap between the boyfriend who hasn’t done anything in the ATP for years. You have to wonder…
Hartt · May 23, 2018 at 9:20 am
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Andreescu won her 1R qualies match against Vera Lapko, the number one seed in qualifying who has been playing well lately, recently getting to No. 77. So a big win for the youngster.
Her fellow Canuck, also 17 years old, Felix Auger-Aliassime, also won his 1R match. I am hoping the 2 youngsters can make it through qualies.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2018 at 9:45 am
Is Michelle Larcher De Brito finished? Her last match was two months ago, she lost to an over 30 no name ranked over 1000 in straights sets. Larcher De Brito is 25 now and ranked over 500.
catherine · May 23, 2018 at 10:08 am
Didn’t know Heather’s boyfriend was a player, but I doubt he’s the reason for her failure to win much recently – Hobart’s a nice place but not a top-notch WTA event – I think she may have peaked a couple of years ago and sadly isn’t going to attract a major coach if she wants to make a final assault on the rankings. For a while last year she had no coach at all. (Stoller won easily)
Looking at qualifying I always find myself wondering why some players carry on playing in what must be a soul-destroying quest. I once read that the longer you play in the WTA, ie the older you are when you retire, the larger your pension. Is this true ?
Chazz · May 23, 2018 at 10:16 am
Chung out of Roland Garros with an ankle injury.
Hartt · May 23, 2018 at 12:14 pm
I don’t know about the rules for a WTA pension, but I am also surprised at how long some players stick it out. There have been a couple articles about Aleksandra Wozniak, a Canadian player who, in her prime, was a top 30 player (No. 21 in 2009). She tried to avoid shoulder surgery and ultimately had no choice but to try it. She has struggled since, and at 30 years old, she is ranked No. 336, and is playing small ITF tourneys.
Despite a shoulder that was never the same, and the depth in women’s tennis, Aleks still believes she can get back to the top 100, and is trying crowd-funding to help with expenses. I always admired her, she was the backbone of Canada’s Fed Cup team for many years. But I wonder how realistic her goal is.
Hartt · May 23, 2018 at 12:18 pm
Unfortunately, Felix lost to a Spanish player, Jaume Munar. So now my hopes for a Canadian player to get through qualies rest with Bianca Andreescu, and perhaps Peter Polansky. Peter had a good comeback in his 1R match and plays in the 2R tomorrow.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2018 at 2:13 pm
Have to say, getting a bit concerned about the progress of Felix. he should be further along by now, he should have had a few notable notches on his belt by now. Hoping they come soon. It’s early but it’s an important stage of his development. Felix failed to qualify at US Open and now paris. By contrast, Fritz qualied at Australia two years ago by beating Mischa Zverev from 0-4 down in the third and lost a five setter to Sock in 1R. I expected Felix to be better than Fritz. Fritz crushed Sock today 76 62. Another dismal and devastating loss for Sock now ranked 125 in The Race. Sock may need a phone call from Vince Spadea.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2018 at 2:14 pm
Always wonder how a player can pull out of a major a full week before, plenty of time for the injury to heal.
Chazz · May 23, 2018 at 2:14 pm
I watched Sock-Fritz. Let’s just say Sock was pathetic in the 2nd set. I don’t think he tanked but his double faults and errors were not pretty. Fritz looked solid throughout. 1st set tiebreaker was tight with Fritz pulling it out 8-6 after withstanding a set point for Sock.
Tiafoe lost a close one to Fucsovics who is ranked about the same. I was really hoping to see Foe vs. winner of Wawrinka/Donaldson. Oh well.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2018 at 2:47 pm
I didn’t see any of the match Chazz, but it’s pretty obvious what happened by the numbers. Sock’s confidence tank is bone dry right now. Fritz has the mental edge on him from the last match and his recent successes. Sock desperately needed to win the first set. Once he failed to win the first set, he had nothing to draw on. Deep down Sock knows he’s mismanaged his career since the off season. he didn’t put in the work, he didn’t identify areas to improve, he just coasted into 2018 like he’d continue the end of 2017. He mailed in the wins. The wins never came, the losses accumulated, the bleeding is out of control now. For the last couple of months Sock has tried to repair the damages but he has nothing to show for it. Sock is in crisis right now. He’s even lost the winning touch in doubles. Sock could actually be entering the journeyman stage of his career. And my never get out of it. Another superb win for Fritz over a desperate foe. Fritz is heading in the right direction and could be a top ten player soon. If Diego Schwartzman can get to 12 in the world, Fritz can go higher.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2018 at 2:47 pm
Fucsovics blasted a big name off the court before this win. Fucsovics is becoming a major force this year.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2018 at 3:14 pm
Gori Gauff won her final Q match 61 61 vs Garcia and is in to the main draw of Osprey ITF $25k, she will play 26 yr old Alexandra Perper of Moldova ranked 417. Incredible results for the 14 yr old Gauff.
Hartt · May 23, 2018 at 4:27 pm
Scoop, Felix is still just 17 years old. Last year he was the youngest to crack the top 200 since Rafa in 2002, and the 2nd youngest to win multiple Challengers since Gasquet in 2003. He did get through the qualiies at IW and then defeated Pospisil in the first round. He will be fine.
Duke Carnoustie · May 23, 2018 at 4:35 pm
Scoop I agree. Sock is in a downward descent the likes that you don’t see normally. From being fairly close to winning the ATP Tour finals, losing in the semis to now being unable to win a match. His talent is no replacement for the hunger and desire of players like Fritz and Foe who have been grinding on the challenger circuit and are eager to break out.
Ask yourself this, who would win between Sock and D-Young? Probably Sock but there is some doubt there. Tomic may be headed in a better direction than Sock at this point.
Foe and Donaldson go down in Geneva.
Scoop Malinowski · May 23, 2018 at 5:47 pm
Young is even farther off the tracks than Sock. In losing to Foe and Fritz twice this year, Sock is actually becoming cannon fodder for the young guns. Will be very difficult for Sock to reverse this trend and regain the lost respect and status he just had but months ago. As we know, star player crashes can be so sudden…Oudin, Rios, Joachim Johansson, Brian Vahaly, Coria, Verkerk, Srichaphan, Rafter, Philippousis, Magnus Norman.
Hartt · May 24, 2018 at 7:28 am
Catherine, I took your advice and added the German youngster, Rudolf Molleker to my secondary youngsters list. When a 17-year-old wins a Challenger, like this kid just did in Germany, he is definitely a player to keep an eye on. He is just the 3rd guy born in 2000, after Felix and Nicola Kuhn, to win a Challenger. Of course Felix won his first Challenger at 16 years old, so he still leads that group. It meant dropping French player Halys, but I have another French youngster, Moutet, but lacked a German player on that list.
I hope Molleker can continue to play well. He contributed his improved mental strength to a training camp he did with Boris Becker, so it looks like Becker’s post with German tennis is already bearing fruit.
catherine · May 24, 2018 at 8:34 am
I’m sure Molleker will go from strength to strength now he’s on your list 🙂
It would be nice to see Graf having a similar influence to Boris in German women’s tennis – unfortunately she’s firmly anchored in the US and doesn’t seem interested in training or coaching on the German side which is understandable.
Barbara Rittner is very popular with the players but she doesn’t have Boris’ aura or record as a past champion and the generation she was close to, Kerber, Petkovic, Georges, Siegemund, Lisicki etc are now around or over 30 and no one on the horizon. We saw the future in Stuttgart.
I’m wondering if the same thing is going to happen in the CR when Kvitova and the Fed Cup team eventually retire. Safarova isn’t doing too well, didn’t qualify in Paris.
catherine · May 24, 2018 at 8:41 am
Oops! Safarova lost to Hsieh in Strasbourg ! But she hasn’t been doing particularly well this year, despite the return of her old coach Rob Steckley.
Scoop Malinowski · May 24, 2018 at 9:22 am
A lot of pro players have filtered through Vegas Catherine, to spend time with Agassi and I presume Graf. I was told Agassi is very generous and gives free coaching tips but not sure if Graf gets involved though of course she has a lot to offer. For sure Agassi is very active in helping players – Verdasco, Kozlov, Djokovic, Fanny Stollar, Simona have passed through Vegas. I’m sure there were many others.
Chazz · May 24, 2018 at 9:30 am
Sock and Kyrgios into the doubles semifinal in Lyon. That is a dominating doubles team. They are probably prepping for a run at Roland Garros. It must be so frustrating to play a couple of goofballs that are so talented in doubles. Wonder how many tweeners they average in a doubles match.
Hartt · May 24, 2018 at 9:31 am
Catherine, definitely the key for a youngster’s success is to be on my list! 🙂
Speaking of youngsters, I just watched Bianca Andreescu play against Tomova in the second round of RG qualies. Bianca won 6-1, 6-3 in a little over an hour. Bianca is such an exciting young player. Still just 17 (she turns 18 in a few weeks), she already has a well-rounded game and is an excellent competitor. I think she is the future of women’s tennis in Canada, and it won’t be long before she is the No. 1 player on the women’s side.
Apparently she is a hard worker, so she can only get even better.
Scoop Malinowski · May 24, 2018 at 9:31 am
Catherine, Hsieh is having a superb year, maybe her best year in singles. Not a bad loss by Safarova.
catherine · May 24, 2018 at 9:51 am
Scoop – yes, there’s been a procession of players through Vegas 🙂
But I was thinking more of the influence Steffi might have had with German players similar to the position Boris now occupies had she remained in Germany or decided to take part from a distance in the development of German women. However, I don’t feel that Steffi has ever been interested in that kind of role, on anything more than a casual basis, – ie some German players have made stop-offs in LV, including Kerber, and I’m not sure Steffi had anything to offer Angie last year when she was having such a bad time. Or if Angie even asked her.
Boris is obviously taking a fairly hands-on approach at the DTB as Hartt has suggested. But Boris is a pretty outgoing chap who’s taking his job seriously
and seems to have more to work with than Rittner who holds an equivalent position at the DTB. He’s also done a bit of elite level coaching with Djokovic. Anyway, with Sascha and Molleker German men’s tennis seems set for a decent future but women’s doesn’t.
Hartt · May 24, 2018 at 9:51 am
And Safarova is still working her way back after being off with an injury for some time.
catherine · May 24, 2018 at 10:03 am
Hartt – yes, I know Lucie’s been hampered by injury, but I tend to associate her with the Kvitova/Fed Cup generation who are coming to the end of their careers, Time’s Winged Chariot and all that.
Andreescu’s a future Canadian No 1 surely. Canadian tennis seems ready to dominate 🙂
catherine · May 24, 2018 at 11:30 am
Muguruza now endorses Evian. It seems the more matches she loses the more deals she gets 🙂
Hartt · May 24, 2018 at 11:58 am
Regarding Canadian tennis, it seems amazing that these 3 youngsters came along at the same time. But Tennis Canada now has a good infrastructure to help them get established in their careers. And they have so much faith in Bianca that in 2015 they brought in Nathalie Tauziat to work with her privately, instead of insisting that Bianca go to the National Training Centre in Montreal, the usual route for promising juniors. Tauziat remains one of Bianca’s coaches, and I imagine that is a bit plus for RG.
catherine · May 24, 2018 at 1:37 pm
Serena will play Krystina Pliskova in R1 at RG
Hartt · May 24, 2018 at 3:02 pm
So Serena will face a very tough test right off the bat.
Hartt · May 24, 2018 at 3:09 pm
For some reason I thought Kristyna had been playing well enough lately that her ranking was higher than it is – No. 70. So Serena could have had a worse 1R draw.
Scoop Malinowski · May 25, 2018 at 2:41 pm
Cori Gauff defeated Alexander Prerper 62 63 1R of Osprey $25k ITF but then lost to Katarina Stewart 67 36. Stewart is 20 years old and ranked 271 in the world. Stewart has some good wins this year – beat Nicole Gibbs 60 61 in Charleston, Alexandra Wozniak 61 63 in Waco. She lost to Kristie Ahn 64 75 at US Open qualies 1R last year. Fine debut for Gauff who has earned her first WTA points at 14.