Corey Gauff and his basketball friends would bicker about the game’s greatest of all time, most leaning towards Michael Jordan, others putting forward an argument for Kobe Bryant.
For his daughter Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff, the phrase stuck, first declaring “I want to be the GOAT” at the age of six.
Now 15 and admittedly with only one Grand Slam singles match win to her name, the dismantling of her childhood idol Venus Williams on Court 1 yesterday hinted at the brightest of futures.
“We talk about the GOAT all the time,” said her father in the wake of the stand-out win of Wimbledon’s day one.
“She was six years old and I think I was watching the Australian Open. Serena Williams won and they were saying she’s maybe one of the greatest of all time.
“She said ‘I want to be the GOAT’ so I never changed her mind. Parents talk you out of dreams sometimes and it’s not intentional, they just want you to have a plan B and get your education in case it doesn’t happen. But we thought that’s a good goal, why not, go after it. Be the best you can be. If the end result is you’re the best of all time, then great.”
As a child, the Williams sisters were the idols, although it was a poster of Serena rather than Venus that took pride of place on her bedroom wall as well as, from the age of 12, a poster of herself from the cover of a local magazine.
Against the older of the Williams sisters, she looked the picture of maturity, unfazed by the big name, the big hits and the big stage of Centre Court, instead raising her level through that match, thanks in part to a paternal pep talk.
Her father said: “Walking to the match, I told Coco when serving for the match 6-5 don’t think she’s not going to hit the ball. She’ll go for it. You’re not going to be able to throw up balls and hope she misses. You’re going to have to go for it. Focus on your toss, hit your serve.
“It’s better to double fault then dink it in. Go after your serve. You’ve got to win as she’s a champion and she’s won too many times.
“She lost two match points with Venus hitting some great returns but then did it.”
Corey and his wife Candi struggle to watch, In the players’ box, she prayed, meditated and took deep breaths with her eyes firmly shut.
Mum takes credit for her athleticism, dad the power, while the composure has been a lesson learned.
Candi said: “One of the things we have been working on with her is breathing, plucking her strings, trying to imagine Venus being someone else, like her hitter and not this big star.
“She did everything we have asked her to do.”
Her brothers Cody, 11, and Cameron, six, were watching with their grandparents back in the United States. Cody telephoned his dad in the aftermath, more excited about her having gained 50,000 Instagram followers during the course of the match than the result.
The family like to joke that, four years her junior, he is her biggest fan but also harshest judge. “He’s hard on her — he’s like ‘Coco, don’t go out there crying on court, you’ve got to fight’,” said Corey.
There were tears, though, afterwards, albeit of joy. They were followed by a family meal out and after Coco had gone to bed, her parents toasted the win with champagne.
And they were raising a glass too at the Paradise Sports Lounge in Delray Beach, Florida, which the family also own.
After the greatest high of her career, there was still time for a teenage gripe towards mum.
Candi said: “She is mad at me now because at the end of the match I got the singer Janelle Monae and took a picture with her and sent it to her and was like, argh. She was more star struck by that than tennis.”
No longer in awe to her idols — as yesterday’s result would attest to —instead her No1 idol has shifted to the singer and actor Jaden Smith.
But idols aside, the family were adamant the Williams win would be immediately put to rest ahead of a second-round encounter tomorrow.
And both parents pushed the same near-decade-long adage of “being the best”. Only time will tell if the teenager proves to be the greatest.
