{"id":160894,"date":"2025-06-05T18:27:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T18:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/160894\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T18:27:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T18:27:24","slug":"35m-coco-gauff-earned-first-paycheck-as-10-year-old-playing-young-serena-williams-in-commercial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/160894\/","title":{"rendered":"$35m Coco Gauff earned first paycheck as 10-year-old playing young Serena Williams in commercial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coco Gauff has always idolized Serena Williams.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Venus. Serena, Venus, Serena<\/a>, Venus,” she once said. “That’s all I watched growing up.”<\/p>\n

\"Coco<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Coco Gauff is two wins away from French Open gloryCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena is a heroine for millions around the world.<\/p>\n

When she retired in 2022, the torch was unofficially passed to fellow American and Gauff<\/a>, who has proceeded to run with it and is now into her third French Open semi-final after defeating fellow American\u00a0Madison Keys\u00a06-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1.<\/p>\n

Gauff survived an early scare to equal a stunning 23-year Serena Williams record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gauff has been inextricably linked to the Williams family ever since she burst on the scene as a precocious 15-year-old and beat Venus at Wimbledon<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n

But Coco and Serena’s paths crossed long before that, although Gauff even had a had picture of Serena Williams on her bedroom wall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Gauff was nine, she was cast as the body double for a young Serena in a Delta Airlines commercial shot at a country club in Palm Beach.<\/p>\n

“I first met Serena – she definitely doesn’t know this – I think I was nine or 10 years old. They needed a stunt double to play a young version of her just the face down,” said Gauff.<\/p>\n

The director asked Coco if she could hit a serve. What she heard was if she could hit a serve like Serena. “I remember trying to hit the serve so hard,” she sai<\/a>d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“And I made it in.”<\/p>\n

“It was so cool.”<\/p>\n

\"Gauff<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Gauff met Serena as a child and has been constantly compared to herCredit: X@cocogauff\"They<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

They had even trained together and share a close relationshipCredit: X@cocogauff<\/p>\n

During filming, Gauff even stopped by Serena’s trailer to take a picture.<\/p>\n

“I stopped by her trailer, took a picture,” she recalled. <\/p>\n

“She probably doesn’t even know. My mom actually sent me a picture a couple weeks ago of me waiting, getting my hair done by the people.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think they ever used it, but that was the first check I ever got as a kid. She doesn’t know this, but the first money I ever made for myself was because of her doing a commercial.”<\/p>\n

The similarities between Gauff and Williams are impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n

Dominant. Powerful. Ruthless. Competitive. Winners.<\/p>\n

Gauff looked up to Serena and modelled her entire game on the now retired 43-year-old.<\/p>\n

When Coco was 10, she even trained with Serena’s longtime coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.<\/p>\n

The influence the female tennis GOAT has had on the world no. 2 is difficult to overstate.<\/p>\n

Gauff’s first ever Instagram post was a picture with Serena when she was 11.<\/p>\n

\"They<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

They appeared together on US Team for Fed CupCredit: X@cocogauff\"Gauff<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Gauff deservedly won the US Open in New York last yearCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Coco has been hailed as ‘The Next Serena’ ever since she first emerged, but rather than wilt under the pressure of such a heavy burden, she’s blossomed into a player — and person — Williams would be proud of.<\/p>\n

“Growing up I never thought that I was different because the No.1 player in the world was somebody who looked like me,” Gauff said<\/a>. “I think that’s the biggest thing that I can take from what I’ve learned from Serena.<\/p>\n

“Then also on a more personal level, I got to have a couple conversations with her later on in life. I think it’s just the way that she handles herself. She never puts herself down. I love that she always elevates herself.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes being a woman, a black woman in the world, you kind of settle for less. I feel like Serena taught me that, from watching her, she never settled for less. I can’t remember a moment in her career or life that she settled for less.<\/p>\n

“I think that’s something I took from her. As a person, I’m growing into being an adult and learning how to handle things now with the media and tennis and everything. I’m trying to learn to not settle for less.”<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old Gauff is now into her third Roland Garros semi-final, having reached the final in Paris in 2022.<\/p>\n

Sadly that day, she was no match for then-world no. 1 Iga Swiatek, and struggled to hold back tears after the defeat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Three years on, she is a more confident and well-rounded player. She also has an estimated net worth of $35m, largely thanks to off-court endorsements, and over $9m in salary\/winnings.<\/p>\n

One with big match experience and a Grand Slam title — the 2023 US Open<\/a> — already under her belt.<\/p>\n

Gauff will have another chance to make the Roland Garros final when she faces French home favorite Lois Boissin, the world no. 361, on Thursday.<\/p>\n

A 21-year-old Serena Williams won her first French Open<\/a> title in 2002 after courting controversy in a banned kit<\/a> and beating big sister Venus in the final.<\/p>\n

Gauff will look to emulate her idol’s achievements at this year’s tournament, with just two wins separating her from the iconic clay court championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coco Gauff has always idolized Serena Williams. “Venus. Serena, Venus, Serena, Venus,” she once said. “That’s all I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[6740,67766,67772,66039,67771,67768,67763,67773,67767,67770,5066,44510,67769,64812,67764,67762,67628,15172,10095,79,1068,16,15,14935,5069,11911,67765],"class_list":{"0":"post-160894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-coco-gauff","9":"tag-coco-gauff-commercial","10":"tag-coco-gauff-commerical","11":"tag-coco-gauff-french-open","12":"tag-coco-gauff-net-worth","13":"tag-coco-gauff-semi-finals","14":"tag-coco-gauff-serena-williams","15":"tag-coco-gauff-serena-williams-commercial","16":"tag-coco-gauff-williams","17":"tag-coco-gauff-young","18":"tag-french-open","19":"tag-gauff","20":"tag-gauff-boisson","21":"tag-gauff-french-open","22":"tag-gauff-stunt-double","23":"tag-gauff-tennis","24":"tag-lois-boisson","25":"tag-roland-garros","26":"tag-serena-williams","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-tennis","29":"tag-uk","30":"tag-united-kingdom","31":"tag-venus-williams","32":"tag-wta","33":"tag-wta-tour","34":"tag-young-coco-gauff"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}