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Cori Gauff: Wimbledon teen sensation loves her 'viral' mum
Two weeks ago, Cori Gauff was online looking for a dress for her prom.
Now she is one of just sixteen women left in the ladies’ singles tournament at Wimbledon.
But what has her tickled is how her mother, Candi, has gone viral.
“Please tell me she’s a meme. I’m so excited to go on Instagram,” she said in her post-match interview when she was told about her mother’s celebratory dance.
Messages of support came flooding in after her dramatic win over Hungary’s Polona Hercog, but Gauff said the most surreal one was from Beyonce’s mother.
“The most unexpected message I received was Tina Knowles, Beyonce’s mum, she posted me on Instagram, and I was screaming. I hope Beyonce saw that, I hope she told her daughter about me because I would love to go to her concert.”
Despite it seeming like easy sailing for the 15-year-old, she explained how her losing battles in her past allowed her to reach where she is today.
“You really learn a lot from your loss, you don’t learn too much when you win, so losing the tough matches definitely prepared me for today [against Hercog].
“I don’t believe in fate or destiny, you can change your own world. Fate can sometimes be a bad thing so I try not to think of it as my destiny because I feel like if I do, then my head’s going to get big.”
On Monday she will face her hardest competition yet, the former No. 1 and 2018 French Open winner Simona Halep.
“I watch her a lot, obviously,” Gauff said. “I’ve never hit with her or practised with her so I don’t know how the ball will feel when I actually play, but I’m familiar with how she plays.
“I’m definitely learning from each match. Court One helped prepare me for Centre Court, and seeing that crowd and hearing how they react, sometimes in the middle of a point they get excited, so I’m just getting a little bit of experience match by match.”
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