Coco Gauff made a splash at Wimbledon in 2019 by reaching the fourth round of the competition at the age of 15.
Gauff sensationally defeated Venus Williams at Wimbledon, and followed it up with victories over Magdaléna Rybáriková and Polona Hercog as a qualifier.
Her campaign was eventually ended by Simona Halep, who would go on to lift the trophy for the only Wimbledon crown of her career.
While Gauff’s exploits in the singles competition announced her to the world, she also competed in the mixed doubles with a British star who has still not cracked the top 100.
Coco Gauff’s ill-fated doubles team with Britain’s Jay Clarke
Gauff teamed with Briton Jay Clarke in the Wimbledon mixed doubles, which proved controversial at the time.
Clarke was initially set to team with fellow Brit Harriet Dart, but he cancelled on her to team with the rising American teenager.
Explaining his reasoning at his Wimbledon press conference, Clarke said: “I’ve known Cori for a few years now, we got in contact, and she asked me to play.
“That was tough. I had to let her know because I saw the pairs that had signed in, and I was thinking ‘Am I even going to get in?’
Clarke described the decision to dropout of his doubles team with Dart as one of the ‘worst decisions’ he has ever had to make.
“I didn’t sleep too well the night before I played Noah [Rubin in a first-round singles match], but hopefully she understands why I did it. I’m sorry for her it happened.”
Gauff and Clarke were defeated in the first round of the mixed doubles by Jelena Ostapenko and Robert Lindstedt.
Coco Gauff and Jay Clarke’s differing fortunes since Wimbledon 2019
Gauff and Clarke’s careers could not have gone in more different directions since the rising youngsters made their doubles debut.
The American has won two Grand Slams, at Roland Garros and the US Open, and reached a career-high of world number two.
Clarke, meanwhile, is currently ranked world number 200 and has only ever been as high as number 153 in the world.
The star is yet to win a career title and has only ever made it to the main draw of a Grand Slam when given a wild card by Wimbledon.
The British star has reached the second round of SW19 on two occasions, with the last coming in the same year he paired with Gauff.
