An all-American tennis match puts the world spotlight back on a 17-year-old bidding to become the GOAT

• Coco Gauff will take on Sloane Stephens in the second round of the US Open on Wednesday.
• The 17-year-old is a rising international star who first made her name as a 15-year-old at Wimbledon.
• She defeated her hero, Venus Williams, in straight sets and has also beaten Naomi Osaka.

Rising tennis star Coco Gauff will take to the Arthur Ashe Stadium court on Wednesday knowing the world is watching once again.

The 17-year-old competes in an all-American tie against Sloane Stephens, the first time the pair have faced each other, as both hope to gain a spot in the third round of the US Open.

If she is victorious, Gauff will equal her best ever performance at the slam having made the third round in 2019, her first experience of the main draw.

Born in Florida in March 2004, Gauff, whose birth name is Cori, was born into a sporting family. Her father, Corey, played basketball at Georgia State while her mother Candi was a gymnast before competing in track and field for Florida State University.

Her father had hoped she would follow his footsteps but, as ESPN reports, a 2009 tennis match changed everything.

The four-year-old Gauff was watching Venus and Serena Williams contest the Australian Open Final when she fell in love with the sport, idolizing the Williams sisters, and declared to her father that she wanted to be the greatest of all time.

She rose rapidly through the junior ranks, earning a number one ranking along the way, and made her professional debut in 2018 but her defining moment came in 2019.

In her first appearance on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon, a 15-year-old Gauff was drawn against one of her idols, Venus Williams, in the first round of the tournament.

Gauff beat the five-time Wimbledon champion in an emphatic fashion - a straight-sets victory of 6-4, 6-4 to send a tennis legend crashing out of the slam.

The victorious American went on to reach the fourth round and her performance was seen by many as a passing of the torch.

Since then, Gauff has added Naomi Osaka to her list of scalps, defeating the current world number three 6-3, 6-4 at the 2020 Australian Open, and made the quarterfinal of the 2021 French Open.

In doing so, she became the youngest player since 2006 to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal and is just one place below the 39-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams.

Playing on her favored hard-court surface, Gauff is hoping to go even further in New York.