By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday June 29, 2021
American Coco Gauff doesn’t take the news of Serena Williams’ shock injury departure from Wimbledon lightly. The 17-year-old has never been shy about talking about what the Williams sisters mean to her.
After her 7-5, 6-4 win over Great Britain’s Francesca Jones on Day 2 at Wimbledon, the 20th-seeded American reacted to the news of Serena's shock injury exit from Wimbledon.
“With Serena, I mean, it was hard for me to watch that,” she said. “I'm a big fan of her, even though I'm a competitor now. But she's the reason why I started to play tennis. It's hard to watch any player get injured, but especially her.”
Gauff says she was in the locker room doing her warm down after her victory, and had to turn away from the television—it was simply too emotional.
“It was not easy to watch,” she said. “Actually I turned away. I was in the gym actually stretching. I turned away because stuff like that makes me, like, really emotional.
Gauff, like so many others, is hoping that the 23-time major champion can make it back to the US Open and continue her quest for a 24th major title.
“I wish her the best,” she said. “I wish that hopefully she can have a speedy recovery. Yeah, you could tell she was really emotional. Nobody ever wants to retire, but especially at a Grand Slam, a place as special as Wimbledon after waiting two years to come back.
“The only thing I can do is wish her well wishes and hope she'll be back in time for the hard court season.”
Williams, who retired at 3-3 in the opening set of her first-round match with Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Tuesday, had not retired from a match at a Grand Slam since the third round of Wimbledon in 1998.