Coco Gauff

Gauff was born on March 13, 2004, to Candi (née Odom)[2] and Corey Gauff, both of whom are from Delray Beach, Florida.[3][4] She has two younger brothers, Codey who is four years younger and Cameron who is nine years younger.[5] Her father played college basketball at Georgia State University and later worked as a health care executive, while her mother was a track and field athlete at Florida State University and worked as an educator.[6] Gauff initially grew up in Atlanta, and first became interested in tennis at the age of four after watching Serena Williams win the 2009 Australian Open on television with her family.[7] Her parents encouraged her to try a wide variety of sports including basketball and track.[7] She began playing tennis at the age of six and decided she wanted to pursue it as a career because it was an individual sport and because of her early success in winning the "Little Mo" eight-and-under nationals at the age of eight. Gauff recalled, "I wasn't much of a team person. I loved tennis. I was so-so about it in the beginning because when I was younger I didn't want to practice at all. I just wanted to play with my friends. When I turned eight, that was when I played 'Little Mo' and after that I decided to do that for the rest of my life."[8][9]

When Gauff was seven years old, her family moved back to Delray Beach so that she would have better opportunities to train in tennis.[10][11] They initially lived with her mother's parents before getting their own house.[3] While in Florida, she worked with Gerard Loglo at the New Generation Tennis Academy for a few years starting from the age of eight.[9][12] Both of Gauff's parents gave up their careers to focus on training their daughter, with her father later taking over as her primary coach and her mother overseeing her homeschooling. Her father had limited experience playing tennis growing up.[6][9] At ten years old, Gauff also began to train at the Mouratoglou Academy in France that is run by Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams's longtime coach. Mouratoglou commented, "I'll always remember the first time I saw Coco. She came over to the Mouratoglou Academy in 2014 to try out and she impressed me with her determination, athleticism and fighting spirit... When she looks at you and tells you she will be number one, you can only believe it."[13] He helped sponsor Gauff through his Champ'Seed foundation, which he created to provide funding for talented junior tennis players who did not have the financial resources to afford high-level training.[14] Gauff continued to have success -- winning the USTA Clay Court National 12-and-under title at the age of 10 years and 3 months old -- to become the youngest champion in the tournament's history.[9]

Gauff is a former world No. 1 junior.[15] She entered the prestigious Les Petits As 14-and-under tournament in 2016 at the age of 12 and made it to the semifinals.[16] Gauff began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit at the age of 13, skipping directly to the highest-level Grade A and Grade 1 tournaments. She finished runner-up to Jaimee Fourlis in her third career event, the Grade 1 Prince George's County Junior Tennis Championships in Maryland.[17] At her next event, Gauff made her junior Grand Slam debut at the 2017 US Open and again finished runner-up, losing to Amanda Anisimova.[18] She did not drop a set before the final in either tournament. Gauff also became the youngest girls' singles finalist in US Open history.[19] After beginning 2018 with a semifinal at the Grade 1 Traralgon Junior International in Australia, Gauff lost her opening round match at the Australian Open.[15] She did not enter another tournament in singles until French Open, where she won her first career junior Grand Slam tournament title. She did not drop a set until the final, where she came from behind to defeat compatriot Caty McNally in three sets. With the title, Gauff became the fifth youngest girls' singles champion in French Open history.[20] A month later following another final win against McNally at the Grade 1 Junior International Roehampton, she also became the No. 1 junior in the world.[21][22]

Gauff reached the quarterfinals in singles at each of the last 2 Grand Slam tournaments of the year. She fared better in doubles at both tournaments, reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon with partner María Lourdes Carlé and winning her first junior Grand Slam doubles title at the US Open with McNally as her partner.[15] Gauff and McNally defeated compatriots Hailey Baptiste and Dalayna Hewitt in the final, and won all of their matches in straight sets.[23] In September, Gauff represented the United States at the Junior Fed Cup with Alexa Noel and Connie Ma. The team reached the final against Ukraine. After Gauff won her singles rubber and Noel lost hers, Gauff and Noel won the Junior Fed Cup by defeating Lyubov Kostenko and Dasha Lopatetskaya in the decisive doubles rubber that ended 11–9 in a match tiebreak.[24] Gauff finished the year with another Grade A title in singles at the Orange Bowl.[25] She ended the season ranked No. 2 in the world behind Clara Burel.[26]

Gauff uses a Head Graphene 360 Speed MP[57] that has 16 main and 19 cross strings. She wears New Balance clothing and tennis shoes.[58]

In October 2018, Gauff signed her first multi-year sponsorship contract, with New Balance.[59] In March 2019, she announced a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Italian food company Barilla, which also sponsors Roger Federer.[59][60]

Gauff's tennis idols are Serena and Venus Williams. "Serena Williams has always been my idol...and Venus," she has said. "They are the reason why I wanted to pick up a tennis racket."[13] Gauff first met Serena when she won the Little Mo national tournament at the age of eight, and later met her again to film a commercial for Delta Airlines and at the Mouratoglou Academy.[9] After defeating Venus at Wimbledon in 2019, Coco commended Venus when they shook hands at the net. "I was just telling her thank you for everything she's done for the sport," Coco said. "She's been an inspiration for many people. I was just really telling her thank you."[35]

In a 2020 post on "Behind the Raquet," created by Noah Rubin, Gauff admitted to having experienced depression and stress related to her sporting career. Her parents shared that she was never diagnosed with depression and had not sought any medical attention for any condition related to her psychological wellbeing.[61]

• Coco Gauff at the Women's Tennis Association
• Coco Gauff at the International Tennis Federation