After claiming the U.S. Open’s Women’s Singles championship this week, Atlanta-born tennis star Coco Gauff paused to, in the words of ESPN’s SportsCenter, “soak it all in.” What she was really doing was kneeling with eyes closed and head bowed. In other words, she was praying, or as she told reporters later, “just saying thank you.”  

At just 19 years old, Gauff is only the third American teenager to win the U.S. Open, the most recent being Serena Williams in 1999. She broke onto the tennis scene by defeating Venus Williams at Wimbledon when she was 15.  

All the while, her faith in Jesus Christ has been clear. She told The New York Times last year that she prays with her dad before every match—not for victory, but for the good health of both players. As she told reporters this week, “I don’t pray for results. I just ask that I get the strength to give it my all.”  

Amen. That’s a prayer we should all soak in.

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