Serena Williams Isn't Sure She'll Ever Play Coco Gauff: 'Let Me Ask My Knees' (Exclusive)

The match between Serena Williams and Coco Gauff may live forever in the dreams of tennis fans.

While speaking with PEOPLE at the premiere of her documentary at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, In the Arena: Serena WilliamsThe 42-year-old tennis legend admitted that he does not know if he will ever play against Gauff.

“I mean, should I ask the knees?” she jokes at the event on Thursday, June 13.

The retired athlete says that while her “lust to compete” is still there, she is focused on her outside endeavors — including parenting daughters Adira, born in August 2023, and Olympia, 6½, with husband Alexis Ohanian.

Serena Williams at the premiere of ‘In the Arena: Serena Williams’.

Steve Eichner/Variety via Getty

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“I have to be the best mom. I have to go to all of Olympia’s things at her school,” she says.

While speaking with PEOPLE for the 50th anniversary cover story, the 23-time Grand Slam champion revealed that she was slowly able to look back on her illustrious Olympia career.

“I told her the other day that she was actually in my stomach when I won the big tournament [the 2017 Australian Open], and she was surprised,” she said. “Now she’s at an age where I can open up to her a little more and she can understand things better, whereas before she didn’t really understand.”

Serena Williams at the SEO Scholars Miami Launch Party at Klaw Miami on April 25, 2024.

Serena Williams attends the SEO Scholars Miami Launch Party at Klaw Miami on April 25, 2024 in Miami, Florida.

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Coco Gauff said goodbye to her teenage years and celebrated her 20th birthday by jumping into the ocean

Although Williams has focused her attention off the court, Gauff, 20, said she is someone she “looks up to” and is a dream opponent.

“She’s my idol,” Gauff told ESPN in September 2023. “The only thing I’ll regret for the rest of my life is not being able to play with her. There were so many tournaments where if we won the extra round and we didn’t, I wouldn’t lose , I would play with her, but I’m still happy that I’m just a product of her legacy and that I’m here for American tennis.”

Coco Gauff plays at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris on June 6, 2024.

ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty

The young athlete, who won her first Grand Slam title at the 2023 US Open, added that Williams is the “GOAT”.

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“She’s the GOAT. I would hope to do half of what she did. But I’m not going to compare myself to her,” Gauff said.

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Source: HIS Education