Serena Williams Sets Her Sights on Doubles with Coco Gauff

Just days prior to Serena Williams announcing her return to tennis, Coco Gauff shared her thoughts on the prospect of teaming up with the legend during a press event at Roland-Garros. “That would be really cool,” remarked the 22-year-old Gauff. She expressed her regret about not having the chance to compete alongside Williams, adding, “Everybody’s been hearing rumors and stuff, so if they are true, I guess we’ll find out in a couple of days based off the rumors. We’ll see. But I think it would be for the sport to have a legend back playing.”

Williams, who is 44 years old, has no intention of facing Gauff in singles matches; instead, she aims to join forces with her in doubles. “I would really love to play with Coco,” Williams stated following her loss alongside Karolina Muchova at the Berlin Tennis Open. She acknowledged that Gauff was on her wishlist of potential doubles partners, saying, “I should have done better research on who was on the charts, but Karolina is such a great player. She’s such a beautiful player, and she’s someone that I love to watch.”

Williams also reflected on her admiration for Gauff, noting, “I love watching Coco as well. Now that I know that — and she’s so focused on singles nowadays. I guess I should have asked, though. I didn’t know.”

On June 9, Williams made her professional tennis return after the 2022 US Open, winning a doubles match with 19-year-old Victoria Mboko at the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club in London. Unfortunately, their journey ended when Mboko had to withdraw due to a knee injury. Looking ahead, it was recently confirmed that Williams will partner with her sister, Venus, for doubles at Wimbledon.

With 23 Grand Slam singles titles to her name, the most by any woman in the Open Era, Williams has also secured 14 doubles championships with Venus, including six at Wimbledon.