Serena Williams recently shared her admiration for Coco Gauff, recalling a childhood photo of the American.
Williams, who has been away from the court since suffering a knee injury at Wimbledon, made her debut at the third annual Fanatics Fest NYC last weekend at the Jacob K. Javits Center. On Saturday, on Kevin Hart’s “Cold As Balls” talk show, she spoke about the next generation of tennis stars while taking part in the show’s signature ice tub challenge.
Calling herself a “huge fan” of Gauff, she recalled an adorable childhood picture of the 22-year-old attending one of her tennis matches with her parents. Serena Williams said:
“I love watching the younger generation now. I mean, obviously I’m a huge fan of Coco. I feel like it is the most amazing picture. I love it.”
Hart continued:
“So, there’s a picture of Coco where she’s a little kid, ambitious tennis player. Her parents took her to a tennis match. She’s watching Serena play. She’s watching her goat play, and she’s in awe of Serena while she’s on the court.”
Williams returned to professional tennis after a break of nearly four years, and her first appearance was at the HSBC Championships’ doubles event. Her first singles match was at Wimbledon, where she lost to Maya Joint and sustained a knee injury that forced her to pull out from the doubles event.
Serena Williams backed Coco Gauff after her private racket-smashing moment went viral at the Australian Open
Coco Gauff sparked a debate about player privacy when she was filmed smashing her racket seven times on a concrete ramp following her 6-1, 6-2 quarterfinal loss to Elina Svitolina at the 2026 Australian Open.
She remained composed on the court but vented her frustration in a stadium corridor, believing she was out of public view. However, a camera captured the private moment, and the footage quickly went viral online. After this incident, Serena Williams’ husband supported the American, writing on X:
“NLG I love this energy and emotion from @CocoGauff – we love sports becaue it’s raw, because these athletes put their ALL into the battle and sometimes (like life) you don’t win. Media are gonna spin this private moment for a headline to get some clicks, but Coco did nothing wrong here.”
Echoing her husband’s thoughts, Williams came to Gauff’s defense, writing:
“Well said. @alexisohanian Passion. Caring. Matters. Nothing wrong with hating to lose. Now Coco when you want I can show you how to demolish in one swipe… Serena style.”
Serena Williams also had several racket-smashing incidents during her career. One of the most notable came in the 2018 US Open final against Naomi Osaka, when she smashed her Wilson Blade racket on the court out of frustration. This resulted in a code violation, costing her a point.
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