New-gen tennis champion Coco Gauff isn’t giving up

“I just love looking at what people are wearing, the fashion here, and eating lots of bread and croissants,” Cori ‘Coco‘ Gauff tells me in a quiet corner of her buzzy New Balance pop-up “Coco’s Court” in Paris. The tennis sensation is in her favourite city gearing up for the women’s singles and doubles draws at Roland-Garros 2024, AKA the French Open, before she goes to Nice to practice at the Mouratoglou Academy, then decamps to London for Wimbledon. The 20-year-old’s sporting prowess is reflected in her style – an American football jersey-style top, cargo jeans, sneakers, and silver Y2K sunglasses – and she’s super sweet and upbeat, even after a packed day meeting fans and doing interviews. After qualifying for the Paris Olympics, Gauff is “really excited” that she’ll return to the French capital to go for gold and emulate her idols, Serena and Venus Williams.

From their iconic beaded braids to their unreturnable serves and pioneering outfits, the record-breaking, stereotype-smashing Williams sisters spurred many Black girls born in the 1990s and 2000s to pick up a racket, including Gauff and me. Where I failed, the Delray Beach, Florida-born American has excelled to reach second in the women’s tennis rankings and fill the void the retired serial champions left with seven singles titles and nine doubles titles. Going on to win the Roland-Garros 2024 doubles title with Katerina Siniakova and a flurry of new fans, I’ve been a Gauff fangirl ever since the 20-year-old had the audacity to beat five-time Wimbledon champion Venus in the first round of the 2019 tournament aged 15. Her 2023 US Open triumph on home soil was another major moment for the elegant and relentless right-handed player who consistently reaches the latter stages of tournaments. 

Inclusion is noticeably improving in professional tennis, but Gauff is open about the double standards she’s still navigating and rising above. “Existing in the world can be difficult especially when people aren’t used to it,” she admits. “Comments under Black players when we express ourselves, are always ‘they’re acting like hooligans or ghetto’ and if another player does it, it’s their ‘passion’.” Nevertheless, the 20-year-old stands up for herself unapologetically, calmly challenging umpire calls and press conference remarks, and earned even more respect when she urged fellow protesters to action change in a powerful “off-the-cuff” speech at a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020. “It’s just opening people’s eyes and you can’t do it to everyone. So honestly, just ignore people because somebody will take inspiration from you,” she advises when I ask how the sport can move forward. “I did from Serena: she was always told she was too this, too that, too dramatic, too whatever. So I try to be myself and maybe another girl can see herself in me.”

Here, we speak to Gauff about what sports means to her, finding inspiration in the Williams sisters, and her hopes for the future of women’s tennis.

Can you share your earliest sports-related memory?

Coco Gauff: My parents were athletes and put my brothers and me into sports from a very early age so I don’t know if I have a singular memory. I played basketball and tennis and ran track before focusing on tennis.

Define what a ‘sport’ is? 

Coco Gauff: Sport is just staying active and moving your body. It teaches so many valuable skills that it doesn’t matter what sport as long as you are having fun and working hard.

Tell us about your tennis journey.

Coco Gauff: I remember my dad giving me a racquet when I was little and practising against the back of a couch. The Williams sisters will always be an inspiration: they showed me that anything was possible for someone that looked like me. I’ve also had my parents, family support, and many great mentors and coaches.

I won the French Open junior title in 2018 and got a Wild Card to play at Wimbledon in 2019 where I beat Venus Williams in the first round which was surreal. That’s the moment things started to change. Over six weeks last summer, I won my first WTA 500, WTA 1000 and Grand Slam tournaments. It’s just the beginning.

Why did you want to go pro?

Coco Gauff: I saw Serena winning a Slam and wanted to be like her. What really brought me to tennis were her outfits on the court and everything that came after it.

How is your training tailored to your sport?

Coco Gauff: I train about six days a week: stretching, ab work, tennis drills, agility work, strength and cardio. In the off-season, I’ve done boxing the last few years which has been fun to learn and helps with my footwork. I also work on my mental prep, journalling and doing other mindfulness work.

Your three standout court qualities?

Coco Gauff: My athleticism, as I’m a pretty good athlete. My mental side as I’m usually not one to throw in the towel and give up. Then my ability to reset after a negative thing happens.

“Being a Black woman, people try to make you masculine but I’ve always been comfortable in my femininity” – Coco Gauff

Has your playing style evolved? 

Coco Gauff: I’ve become more aggressive over the years because the game is transitioning into a more aggressive style of play. Also, I’m stronger than I was at 15 so I hit harder.

Which tennis player(s) do you look up to? 

Coco Gauff: Besides Serena and Venus? Roger Federer on the men’s side but, honestly, Serena and Venus were the only women I watched.

What’s the goal after becoming US Open champion?

Coco Gauff: Keep winning more tournaments. I would like to win multiple Grand Slams and hopefully a gold medal one day.

What are you ultimately fighting for on and off the court?

Coco Gauff: Representation for girls and boys to see themselves in this sport and realise, maybe it’s out of the ordinary for my community but I can branch out to other sports. Not a lot of Black women play my sport and my dad bought me a racquet [because] he saw two Black women playing. Also, teaching parents not to shut down their kids’ dreams. My parents never did that to me and I was lucky to have that belief system.

Has the attitude to Black women in tennis changed in recent years?

Coco Gauff: The stereotype broke in our communities because of Serena, Venus, Althea Gibson, Zina Garrison. There are still undertones in the press or with fans and little cultural differences: I did this [gestures across her neck] one time at the US Open and people thought I was telling my opponent to slit her throat when I was just doing ‘period’. But I don’t have to deal with it on the scale they did. They made racist remarks to Serena at Indian Wells and I’ve never had that happen to me.

In this new age of female athletes, how body-confident are you?

Coco Gauff: I’ve never been insecure about my muscles. I’ve gotten comments like, ‘you’re too muscular, who would find that good-looking?’ But my mom was a track and field athlete and lots of my family were athletes so it was always seen as a thing of beauty and hard work. Being a Black woman, people try to make you masculine but I’ve always been comfortable in my femininity. There are moments when I don’t feel confident in myself then I remind myself, you’re talking to your younger self and you would never call that girl ugly.

Break down your tennis look.

Coco Gauff: I work closely with New Balance to help design my on-court outfits and my favourite is usually a skirt and top combo with my signature shoe. I like to train in leggings and I’ve been using a Head racket for years. I always wear my Bose headphones to listen to music to pump up or calm down.

How has your court style evolved? 

Coco Gauff: I got with New Balance at 14 and wasn’t a super fashionable 14-year-old. Covid is when I started to find out who I wanted to be on and off the court and New Balance decided to give me my own signature shoe. I wanted it to look like a basketball shoe, be functional as a tennis shoe, and also be a shoe that someone can wear off the court because my dad played basketball and I think basketball shoes are cool.

What’s your Wimbledon 2024 look?

Coco Gauff: We always get creative since I have to wear white and this year we applied the cutout fashion trend to a performance kit. It’s always fun pushing the boundaries of classic Wimbledon style.

Your biggest ‘I told you so’ moment this year?

Coco Gauff: I had a situation in Dubai with the umpire. Tennis doesn’t have a replay system so you have to hope you’re right about what you’re fighting for in the moment. And I was right [to challenge the call that my first serve was out] playing Karolina Pliskova. I’m not usually a person who complains a lot but when I do, I go hard at it.

The future of women’s tennis is…

Coco Gauff: Continuing to get equal prize money on all courts [beyond] Grand Slams. Women’s tennis has been the lead in women’s sports for equalling the men’s prize money and financial aspects and we’ve had it for so long. It’s great that the journey has taken off for women’s basketball and soccer so I hope women’s tennis continues to lead when it comes to equality.

What is your ‘gonna tell my kids this was me’ meme in sport?

Coco Gauff: I’ve been watching The Bear and people say Ayo Edebiri and I look alike, so I lowkey think I can finesse that to my kids and  ‘be like yeah, that was me on the show’. Her Vanity Fair shoot pictures look insane so I could just say that was me, like I totally killed that shoot in my head.