"Venus Williams at 21 would crush Coco Gauff at 21" - Fans react to Grand Slam match win comparison between Americans

20-year-old Coco Gauff has surpassed the legendary Venus Williams' tally of Grand Slam singles match wins when the legend herself was 21. Gauff, who turns 21 in March, achieved the feat after winning her third-round match at the 2025 Australian Open against Leylah Fernandez. However, the statistical comparison between Gauff and Williams did not go down well with several tennis fans.

On Friday, January 17, the official X (formerly Twitter) handle of Eurosport shared the comparison via a post featuring an infographic. Gauff's win over Fernandez helped her to 63 singles match victories at Majors, one more than the number Williams had achieved at 21. The post was captioned:

"Venus Williams Grand Slam match wins at 21 years old: 62. Coco Gauff Grand Slam match wins before turning 21 years old: 63. Gauff breaking the records of her idol #AusOpen"

Many fans on X though, took objection with the comparison.

Some pointed out that Venus Williams started her Grand Slam career at 17 while Coco Gauff began hers at 15. They suggested that this is indicative of Williams' superiority. Others opined that her overall achievements at 21 made her the superior player at the time compared to Gauff today.

"Venus Williams at 21 would crush Coco Gauff at 21," one wrote.

"Which makes Venus’s record even more impressive since she was 17* during her first Grand Slam appearance compared to Coco’s 15…," another commented.

"Didn’t Venus have 4 majors and an Olympic gold medal by 21 and not 1?" a third fan said.

Here are some more reactions to the statistical comparison:

"Take into account who the 2 had to play though and Venus is far more impressive," a fan wrote.

"WGAF? Monica had 8 slams at age 19," another said.

"Now count number of slams at 21yo," yet another tweeted.

Interestingly, Gauff's Major debut came against Williams. The match culminated in a monumental result for the then-16-year-old.

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Coco Gauff's straight-sets win over Venus Williams in Grand Slam main draw debut

Venus Williams (left) and Coco Gauff (right) after their 2019 Wimbledon Championships first-round match (Source: Getty)

Coco Gauff was drawn to face one of her idols, Venus Williams, in the first round of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, tearing through the qualifying stages. Astoundingly, she shocked the seven-time singles Major winner with a remarkable 6-4, 6-4 victory.

After the match, Gauff said:

"You never know what happens. If I went into this match saying, ‘Let's see how many games I can get against her,’ then I most definitely would not have won. My goal was to play my best. My dream was to win. That's what happened."

Gauff won her 64th match at the Grand Slam level after beating Belinda Bencic in the fourth round of the 2025 Australian Open. Next up for the American in Melbourne is a quarterfinal clash against the resurgent Paula Badosa.