Coco Gauff is a teenage tennis player
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Coco Gauff She admits that she is often in a hurry when she goes about her daily life.
The 18-year-old Floridian doesn’t stick around in a city after a tennis tournament ends: “Even if it’s a nice place,” she said with a chuckle, “I like to leave.” When dinner’s finished, she’s not one to linger in a restaurant: “I don’t like to sit and talk after I’m done eating,” she said, eliciting more of her own laughter. “I like to go.”
Yes, Gauff is generally ready to move on. The gist of her philosophy: Why wait?
“I’m pretty impatient, to be honest. I wouldn’t say I’m impatient with people and things, but when it comes to getting things done, I’d rather do it sooner than later,” Gauff said during an interview with The Associated Press. “I guess that relates to my career; I never realized it until this conversation. But you do want success to happen now.”
When the Australian Open The 2023 Grand Slam season starts Monday morning (Sunday at EST). Gauff will take on Katerina Siniakova at Rod Laver Arena. If you win, Gauff could next face Emma Raducanu who was a teenager and won the 2021 U.S. Open.
You will reach the semifinals. Gauff, 7th seeded, might face No. 1 Iga Swaiatek, who was just 14 when she won the 2020 French Open. She has since added two major titles. It would be a rematch from their French Open final in June last year, which Swiatek won.
Gauff isn’t the only young player making progress at the highest level of her sport.
She is, however, someone who grew up under — and needed to grow accustomed to — an intense spotlight, having made her Grand Slam debut in 2019 by becoming the youngest qualifier in Wimbledon history, then drawing even more attention by beating Venus Williams en route to making it to the fourth round at the All England Club.
“I’ve definitely grown a lot since then. I was only 15 years old, and still very young. I was confident. You still have a lot to be confident. But I feel like I’m more grounded,” Gauff said. “Everything happened so fast, so my head got — I wouldn’t say ‘big,’ because I was always humble and stuff — but I think, in hindsight, it is all happening fast.”
Her greatest growth from then to now, according to her father, Corey: “Her mental maturity.”
Swiatek’s take on Gauff?
“I feel, off court, that she’s really humble. I’m happy about that, because I know that from a young age, kind of all eyes were on her,” Swiatek said. “I’m happy she’s coping with that well.”
Gauff certainly has been, both by improving as a player and by finding her voice and speaking up on issues, whether it is gun violence in the U.S. or the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade or whatever else matters to her.
“She’s wise beyond her years. Obviously, her parents should take a lot of pride in this young lady that they’ve raised, for sure, and deserve a lot of credit for providing that foundation for her. But Coco is, of course, Coco and she’s herself,” WTA CEO and Chairman Steve Simon said. “What I’m excited about is the process that she went through to get there means to me that she’s got a good chance to maintain that level on a long-term basis, versus those that just all of a sudden hit gold.”
On the court, Gauff knows there is work to be done — her forehand is still a shot that opponents tend to test — to keep achieving and to keep taking strides in the right direction.
As it stands, she has already reached the Top 10 in singles ranking and climbed all the way up to No. 1 in doubles and qualified in both events at 2022’s season-ending WTA Finals.
She reached her first Grand Slam final in Paris. She was awarded her third career singles championship trophy in Auckland, New Zealand.
What are you waiting for?
“The the biggest goal every year,” Gauff said with another laugh, “is to win a Grand Slam.”
___
Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HowardFendrich
___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports