Coco Gauff's father says he doesn't think his 15-year-old tennis star daughter is a 'prodigy'

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Cori "Coco" Gauff.

• Corey Gauff, the father of 15-year-old tennis star Cori "Coco" Gauff, doesn't think his daughter is a prodigy.
• Coco rose to fame after defeating Venus Williams in the first round of Wimbledon in July.
• She's now headed to the US Open and is on track to become a millionaire by the end of the year.
• However, her father told Teen Vogue: "When it comes to something like tennis, [Coco] works hard. This is not an accident. She might be overnight popular, but she's not an overnight success."
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15-year-old tennis star Cori "Coco" Gauff may have taken the sport by storm this summer, but her father says he doesn't believe his daughter is a "prodigy."

Gauff, who was recently interviewed by Teen Vogue, saw her fame skyrocket after she defeated Venus Williams, one of her heroes, during the first round of Wimbledon in July.

After making it to the fourth round of the tournament - the youngest player to do so since 1991 - her fanbase grew rapidly. She even met the former First Lady Michelle Obama, who called her "a wonderful young woman who's showing us that we don't have to wait to see what the next generation can do."

Read more: A 15-year-old American who had to take a science test last week just beat Venus Williams in the first round at Wimbledon

Now, she has been handed a wildcard entry for another Grand Slam tournament - the US Open, which starts later this month. She's also on track to become a millionaire by the end of the year.

However, her parents, Candi and Corey Gauff, "aren't huge fans of the word prodigy" when it comes to Coco, according to Teen Vogue.

Corey told the magazine: "I understand the Webster's dictionary [definition] of it, and maybe it's applicable, but to me, it's like [Bobby] Fischer in chess. Somebody [who] can see the chessboard. That's a prodigy to me. They just have a mental capability that's so unique and so off the charts.

"When it comes to something like tennis, [Coco] works hard. This is not an accident. She might be overnight popular, but she's not an overnight success."

Coco, on the other hand, doesn't seem too concerned with labels, and says she tries "not to think about it, because it'll put too much pressure on [me]."

Talking about the comments she receives on Instagram, where she has nearly 400,000 followers, she said: "Even the negatives I see [don't] bother me because I don't care."

She added: "I just want to win more. I love winning more than I hate losing."