It is a hot Saturday afternoon at the renowned Billie Jean King Tennis Center in New York. It is the sixth game of the final set; and the enormous crowd is holding their breath, sitting anxiously on the edge of their seats as their eyes fixate on the court below them. Coco Gauff is receiving the tough serve of Belarusian tennis legend Aryna Sabalenka, which averages at around 100 miles per hour. However, Coco knows where she stands in this moment: it is game point, and she is seconds away from winning the U.S. Open at just 19 years old.
At only 19 years old, how did Coco Gauff get to this moment?
Cori Dionne Gauff was born on March 13, 2004 in Delray Beach, Florida. She was named after her father, Corey, yet decided to officially go by the nickname “Coco” after becoming frustrated with the frequent confusion associated with the names. Gauff informed Sports Illustrated Kids through an interview that the suggestion to switch her name was made by her aunt.
It’s no surprise that Gauff is the incredible athlete that she is. She was raised by two Division 1 athletes–her father Corey played basketball at Georgia State University and her mother Candi ran track and field at Florida State University. This ultimately led to Gauff’s start in tennis, since both of her parents strongly encouraged their daughter to play a sport from a young age. Gauff began playing tennis at the ripe age of 6, and her flourishing career took off from there.
Originally, Gauff was raised in Atlanta, Georgia, where her mother was a teacher and her father an executive for a pharmaceutical company. However, as her parents soon realized Coco’s natural tennis talent, they decided to move back to Delray Beach to help their daughter pursue a professional tennis career–and it worked. Gauff was developing skills faster than most athletes at her age, and by the age of seven, she was working with a tennis pro two hours a day, multiple days a week. Gauff had access to some of the best tennis instruction in the country, so she ultimately thrived in Delray Beach. Her mother decided to homeschool Gauff in order to allow for flexibility within Coco’s schedule.
Although Gauff’s predominant focus was tennis, she was also a very well-rounded athlete, which was very important to her father. Corey Gauff has said, “Be a well-rounded athlete, learn other sports—that’s one thing we emphasized with Coco early on; she was in gymnastics, soccer, basketball, and she ran track. We wanted her to develop as a total athlete.”
When she was ten years old, Gauff traveled to France to begin training with one of the best tennis instructors in the world: Patrick Mouratoglou.
Mouratoglou was raised by a Greek businessman and French mother who intended for their son to pursue a traditional (and in their eyes, successful) career. However, Patrick Mouratoglou knew from a young age that he felt very passionately about pursuing tennis. Since his experiences with non-supportive parents limited his ability to go on professionally, he decided to create the Mouratoglou Academy in 1996 to allow for young kids to pursue their dreams regarding tennis.
Mouratoglou had coached tennis legend Serena Williams for over a decade and was known to be an incredibly successful instructor. He was one of the major contributors to Gauff’s success, though Corey Gauff had also been one of Coco’s coaches for a long time, as well.
Eventually, Gauff began seeing some success. In 2014, she won the U.S. Tennis Association Clay Court National 12-under title. During the U.S. Open Girls Junior Championships in 2017, Gauff received first runner-up. In 2018, Gauff placed first in the Junior French Open.
Gauff’s first major win that gained her a significant following was defeating beloved tennis star Venus Williams in the first round of Wimbledon. Gauff has said that Venus and Serena Williams have served as exceptional role models for herself, as they both represent qualities of strong Black females in a predominantly white sport. She went on to compete all the way to the fourth round of Wimbledon, making her the youngest player to do so since 1991.
Following her performance in Wimbledon, Gauff started receiving an immense amount of praise from the public, which resulted in the use of the popular phrase “Cocomania.” Additionally, she began using her platform to speak up about activism. She has advocated for issues such as climate change and racial injustice, both posting about them on her large social media platform and actively participating in protests and events regarding the current issues taking place in the world.
Going into the 2023 U.S. Open, Gauff was ranked sixth overall. However, she quickly dominated the tournament, defeating excellent players such as Caroline Wozniacki in Round Four, Jelena Ostapenko in Quarter-Finals, and Karolina Mochova in Semi-Finals. When Gauff reached the Finals, Aryna Sabalenka was heavily favored to win due to her age and level of experience. However, after a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 battle, Coco Gauff’s tennis career changed forever.
Gauff won an enormous prize of $3 million, in which she gratefully thanked tennis superstar Billie Jean King for her efforts during “The Battle of the Sexes” to give women the ability to earn equal pay in the sport of tennis. Gauff’s impeccable performance in the 2023 U.S. Open made her one of the youngest players to ever receive this honor, and she will go down in history as arguably one of the greatest young female tennis players of all time.
