Over the weekend, Coco Gauff became the first American teenager to claim a US Open title in 24 years. The last person to do it was Serena Williams, back in 1999.
Gauff has often cited Serena and Venus Williams as her heroes, so to win her first major championship at the US Open was a special, full circle moment for the 19-year-old. Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final, cementing her place in history.
After the win, Gauff spoke about rising above the vocal critics who didn’t believe she would be able to do it.
“Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me. Like a month ago, I won a (tour) title and people said I would stop at that. Two weeks ago I won a (tour) title and people were saying that was the biggest it was going to get,” she said. “So three weeks later, I’m here with this trophy right now.”
“I tried my best to carry this with grace, and I’ve been doing my best, so honestly, to those who thought they were putting water in my fire, you were really adding gas to it and now it’s really burning so bright right now.”
Gauff’s career is going from strength to strength – she is currently on a 12-match winning streak. The US Open title comes after she became the youngest qualifier in Wimbledon history at age 15 in 2019.
Here, we’re taking a look at other teenagers who have achieved huge sporting feats.
Serena Williams
A role model to Gauff, tennis icon Serena Williams started achieving at the highest level when she was a teenager. Like Gauff, she won her first grand slam as a teen.
In 1999 at 17, Williams won the US Open, marking the first major achievement of her extraordinary professional tennis career that spanned more than two decades.
Arisa Trew
Closer to home, the Gold Coast’s Arisa Trew recently made skateboarding history, becoming the first female to land a 720 in competition. Trew is just 13 years old, and landed two mid-air rotations at the Tony Hawk Vert Alert in the United States in June this year.
It was an iconic moment and a feat she achieved in front of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk who was the first person to successfully pull of the 720 maneuver in competition back in 1985.
At such a young age, Trew has so much ahead of her and is looking to represent Australia at the next Olympic Games.
Simone Biles
Widely recognised as the greatest gymnast of all time, Simone Biles is another sporting icon who achieved her first major feat as a teen. In 2016, at age 19, Biles won her first gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rio. And she didn’t just win one gold medal – she became the first gymnast to win four gold medals in a single Olympics – in all-around, team, vault and floor.
Three years before, she had claimed her first national title at just 16. Biles has since gone on to become the most accomplished gymnast in history – just two weeks ago, she won her eigth national title – an achievement no man or woman has claimed previously.
Back in 2021, Biles shocked the gymnastics world when she performed the Yurchenko double pike vault at the US Classic, a notoriously difficult (and dangerous) move which historically has only been attempted by male gymnasts.
Sam Kerr
Matildas captain Sam Kerr is no stranger to sporting achievements, frequently named as one of the best football players in the world. She also started her career as a teenager, debuting for Australia’s national team at age 15.
It was remarkable considering she had not played football until she was 12-years-old, previously dedicating herself to AFL. Kerr has gone on to represent Australia at multiple Olympic Games, and spends much of her time in the UK, where she is captain of Chelsea FC. She is the only female soccer player to have won the Golden Boot in three different leagues (and on three different contintents) – the W League in Australia, the NWSL in North America and the Women’s Super League in Europe.
Carissa Moore
In surfing, Carissa Moore was 18 when she became the youngest person – male or female – to win a surfing world title when she beat Australian champion Steph Gilmore. The same year, she won three events that year and lso became the first woman to compete in Oahu’s Triple Crown of Surfing, an event that is typically an all-male.
Moore has gone on to win five World Surf League titles, and represent the United States at the Tokyo Olympics becoming the first woman in history to win a Olympic gold medal in surfing.