ATLANTA — Coco Gauff stormed into the French Open final on Thursday at just 18 years old, her first Grand Slam final coming three years after she swept onto the scene as a 15-year-old with a stunning run at Wimbledon.
Her next task will be a tall one, Saturday at 9 a.m., against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, a 21-year-old Polish sensation who won the 2020 French Open.
Gauff came into the tournament as its 18th-seeded player, making something of an upset run to the final at Roland Garros. Her previous best run at a Grand Slam tournament was to the French Open quarterfinals.
In February, Gauff's former tennis coach here in Atlanta, Jewel Peterson, called her a "coach's dream" who always looked like a future star.
She said she believed Gauff could be the world No. 1 someday, but also hailed her maturity and perspective off the court, speaking out about social issues.
"Athletes are now celebrities when it comes to what you wear, what you eat. We are all taking cues from them about everything else, why not about social injustice," Peterson said.
She also talked about Gauff's position in the game as a Black woman, one of several emerging tennis stars - including Stephens, her opponent on Tuesday - who are taking the baton as Black women in the sport from the Williams sisters.
"When we talk about Black women in tennis, there is a long history, we can go all the way back to Athea Gibson, to my mentors, now Venus and Serena," Peterson said. "Now they have the mindset that 'because they did it, I can.' So that's a huge thing to see the women who trail blazed and who came before them."