In the early days of Coco Gauff's tennis career, she was known around the tennis tour—on draw sheets, tournament websites, and media coverage—by her legal given name: Cori. But even before she became the youngest American woman in 25 years to win the US Open title last year, Gauff was much more enamored by another four-letter name, by which she was known among her family, and the one by which the world knows her as today.
And after the 2023 US Open champion started her title defense with an easy 6-2, 6-0 win over Varvara Gracheva in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday, she revealed to the media that her now-iconic moniker has something of a muddy origin story.
"My aunt says she came up with calling me Coco," Gauff explained. "But then my dad [Corey Gauff] said when he was younger, people used to call [him] 'Co.' Then he was like, 'I'll call my daughter Coco.'
"I don't know which story is actually true, but they both get pretty mad if I don't say both of them."
While Gauff has entered rareified air as a mononymous celebrity thanks to her tennis prowess, it's not always true for her off the court, she then joked.
"Every time I check into hotels or people at the airport ... they look at my ID, and obviously [at] the airport you book under your real name, but the person sometimes will recognize me and they'll be like, 'Wait, are you Coco?' I'm like, 'Yeah, it's just a nickname. I'm not somebody that looks like her,'" Gauff said.
"In the hotel, sometimes, like, 'Well, we don't have your room.' I'm like, 'It's probably under Coco, not Cori,' and then they'll do that."
But those inconveniences do come with one big perk back when the glober-trotter is back home in Delray Beach, Fla.
"I guess they didn't want me to get my dad and me confused when my mom is yelling at one of us in the house," she added.
"I think it's cool to be known kind of [on] a first-name basis, in the tennis world, at least," Gauff continued. "I think maybe just because Coco is just so easy and recognizable. People like it more than using my last name, which kind of just sounds like a sport."
Whatever you call her, you know where to find her for the next two weeks. Gauff will be back in action in Flushing Meadows on Wednesday against Germany's Tatjana Maria.
