It must be an odd thing to come of age in the public eye, especially in the pressure-filled tennis business, where your every sound bite, your every unforced error, is laid bare for all to see, to analyze, to pick apart.
Coco Gauff, first introduced to us as a 15-year-old on the iridescent-green lawns of the All England Club, where as a qualifier she upset idol Venus Williams en route to Round 4, knows this as well as anyone. Now 19, she’s growing up before our very eyes, and growing accustomed to the ever-mounting expectations, the all-out impatience, that comes with the territory when you’re tapped to carry on a trophy-wielding tradition that traces back to Gibson, King, Evert and Austin; funneling through to Capriati, Davenport and the Williams sisters.
The experience doesn’t seem to have stunted her growth. On Tuesday afternoon in Flushing Meadows, the Floridian stood tall in overwhelming error-prone Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, winning 6-0, 6-2, in barely over an hour to reach her maiden US Open semifinal.
“I would say it’s definitely weird,” said Gauff of her life in the spotlight. “But when I put my scale on to other people, I don’t view it as big as some of the celebrity kids who have paparazzi everywhere. That’s crazy.”
“It can be difficult sometimes because I think people do forget that you are a person. They see you as an athlete and they’re rooting for their favorite person, and when you lose, they say all types of things about you. I think it’s important that you really know yourself, because it’s very easy to feed into what you should and what you shouldn't do when everyone is giving their opinions. I think, for the most part, I’ve done well with it. I think it’s because of my family. They have always kept me grounded and always, I guess, set the importance of my self-worth, because sometimes you can lose your sense of self in this environment, going from country to country, social media, all of that.”
Give credit to parents Corey and Candi, not only for passing on the athletic genes (both were successful D1 athletes), but for building a solid foundation.
“When I was a kid, I just thought about winning tournaments. I don’t know why I never imagined it. The dreams never came with the people in the stands and autographs. It was just, like, the trophy.”
Dating back to her opening-round loss at Wimbledon, Gauff has now won 16 of her last 17 matches, a streak that produced titles in Washington and Cincinnati. She also extended her winning streak to a career-best 10 consecutive triumphs.
Next up is either 10th seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic or 30th seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania. The pressure, of course, will be there again as she aims for her first major final since Roland Garros in 2022. But Gauff says she’s found new ways to keep it all in perspective.
“What I learned about myself is that, in these moments, I shouldn’t put so much pressure in these matches, because when you’re playing these tournaments, the pressure is always on,” she said. “They’re so intense and you always want to win. I just learned how to cope with that better the more I have reached this level. You have some people who kind of already had to do it already when they come on tour and some who need to learn.”
“I think that’s just part of life and just part of learning. I think that’s why sometimes someone has a great result, like when they come out the gates and then it’s tough to back it up because you’ve just never been in this position before. I think the more I’ve gotten into this position, the more I’ve just been able to learn how to handle it.”
With her win over Ostapenko (who, despite the lopsided defeat claimed she “was expecting a little bit more from her today”), Gauff became the first American teen to reach the final four in New York since Serena Williams in 2001. There are those comparisons to the Open Era Slam queen, again, something else she’s growing accustomed to.
“Being in any sentence with her is great. I mean, she’s the greatest player of all time,” said the sixth seed. “I’m nothing close to that yet. I’m just really honored to be in the same sentence as her. But it’s something that I’m used to a lot. I never take it for granted. She’s my idol. I think if you told me when I was younger that I would be in these same stat lines as her, I would freak out. I’m still trying not to think about it a lot, because I don’t want to get my head big or add pressure.”
Adding Brad Gilbert to a coaching crew that already included Pere Riba appears to be paying dividends, too. When she first met with the Jolly Rancher-dispensing, ESPN-commentating Californian to discuss the partnership, one of the first things he said was that Gauff needed to smile more.
“People who don’t know where their next meal is going to come from, people who have to pay their bills. That’s real pressure, that’s real hardship, that’s real life.”
“When he said that, I was a little bit surprised. I started to think and I was like, ‘Yeah, I do.’ That's something I’m trying to work on and continuing to do and I think it’s helping my results.”
“I think it’s just putting my life into perspective. At first, I used to think negative things, like, 'Why is there so much pressure? Why is this so hard?' blah, blah, blah. I realize in a way it’s pressure but it’s not. I mean, there are people struggling to feed their families, people who don’t know where their next meal is going to come from, people who have to pay their bills. That’s real pressure, that’s real hardship, that’s real life. So instead of saying ‘Why this, why that?’ I should just be, like, ‘Why not me? Why am I not enjoying this?’ I should. It’s just putting my life in perspective and realizing how grateful and blessed I am.”
Yes, Coco Gauff is growing up before our very eyes, head on straight, comfortable in her own skin.
