She just defeated a record set the year she was born!
Coco Gauff has just made history as the youngest tennis player to win the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals in two decades, CNN reports. The 20-year-old tennis phenom ended the season with a victory, defeating China’s Zheng Qinwen 3-6 6-4 7-6 (2), at the Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Gauff is now the youngest player to win the finals since a 17-year-old Maria Sharapova defeated 23-year-old Serena Williams in 2004.
The WTA Finals gathers the best tennis players in the world annually. Gauff’s victory comes with a hefty prize of more than $4.8 million, the largest single prize in the competition’s history. Gauff also made history as the youngest player to beat the reining No. 1 and No. 2 players at the WTA Finals in 18 years and the youngest pair, alongside 22-year-old Qinwen, to appear in the final since Sharapova and Williams.
Gauff said she was initially unaware that she had broken a record, and officials at the time weren’t able to confirm it. Once she discovered the record, the cherry on top was being the first person in her lifetime to do it, which is more proof for Gauff that age is truly just a number.
“I asked (about the record) as soon as I got the match. I asked, ‘Was this the youngest? It has to be some kind of record…’They didn’t have it, but that’s good to know. It was 2004. The year I was born was the last time, so in my lifetime, basically, I’ve never seen it. That’s pretty cool. It just shows age is a number both ways, old and young,” Gauff told reporters.
Congrats Coco!
Cover photo: Coco Gauff Makes History as Youngest Player to Win WTA Finals in Two Decades/Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images