Serena Williams has suffered her first defeat since returning to tennis after losing her doubles opener at the Berlin Open.
Williams played with Karolina Muchova at the WTA 500 tournament in Germany, but they were beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Erin Routliffe and Giuliana Olmos.
That arrived after the 23-time Grand Slam champion played doubles with Victoria Mboko at Queen’s, where the duo won their opener before injury forced the Canadian out of the event.
Williams will continue her doubles exploits with her sister Venus Williams at Wimbledon, with WTA superstar Coco Gauff hoping she can soon join the lucky list of players that Serena partners.
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Coco Gauff hopes to play doubles with Serena Williams
As per TNT Sports, Gauff said: “Yeah, she is definitely one of the main reasons why I decided to play tennis, for sure.
“Yeah, it’d be really cool.
“I’m hoping that one day she’ll hit up my line to play doubles.
“That would be really, really cool.
“And if she were to compete in singles, it would be cool to step on the court with her just because she’s a legend and someone I looked up to.
“I’m very excited to be in the same spaces as her again.”
Along with her singles run, Gauff is also playing doubles at the Berlin Open with fellow American Jessica Pegula.
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Coco Gauff inspired by Williams sisters to win Wimbledon
Gauff is currently using the Berlin Open as preparation for Wimbledon, for which the Williams sisters have received a wildcard to play doubles.
They have already won the grass-court Grand Slam six times together, having also claimed the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics.
Sharing her take on the duo at Wimbledon, Gauff said: “Serena and Venus won that tournament a lot both, so I think it was always a tournament that I watched growing up, and hoped to win, and still hope to win.”
Gauff is a two-time Grand Slam champion, but historically Wimbledon has proven to be her least successful major.
She’s won the US Open and French Open as well as reaching the Australian Open semifinals, but has never made it beyond the fourth round in London.
Whether or not she can change that trend this year remains to be seen, but she may just be inspired by regularly seeing tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams at the All England Club.
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