Coco Gauff enchants Paris: slightly chaotic and yet very clear
If you have so much in your head, you can’t think of any little thing: Coco Gauff with a lot of stewards at the first game at the French Open. What was missing: their tennis rackets. « Well, » she thought, Gauff later said with a laugh: « We have a Grand Slam here – and I don’t even bring rackets with me. »
In the meantime, the American has sorted herself, she won her first match – with her rackets after which a ball boy had been sent out – like the five following games, she has long been a crowd favorite. On Saturday (3 p.m.) the 21-year-old meets Aryna Sabalenka in the final, plays in duel number two against number one in the world around her second major title after the US Open 2023.
For Gauff, it will be the second Roland Garros final, in 2022 it went under against Iga Swiadek. « I was hopelessly nervous, had already written off before the first rallies, » she says. Now she gets the second chance to take up a large US heritage: Chris Evert (seven titles) is a record winner in Paris, Martina Navratilova, Jennifer Capriati or Serena Williams also won at Roland Garros.
At the start of the tournament, Coco Gauff has forgotten her rackets in the cabin. Photo: AFP
But if you are currently pursuing Gauff, you will notice that she is moving much more besides tennis – the racket episode is a symptom. Gauff goes on a discovery tour in Paris, because « I want to see more of a city as a hotel room ». She also plunges into books. « In 2023 I read 23, in 2024 then 24, now 25 are on ». And in between, the deeply religious Christian is talking to the media, about God and the world.
On the way of friendliness
Of course, Gauff loves the spotlight, visited the Oscar ceremony, posed for the Vogue. But she also turns on into political debates, appeals to grievances, supported the « Black Lives Matter » movement. It was « a crazy time in view of the state of the government, » she said recently when you are a black woman and live in Florida.
If I generally enjoy life more, I also play better.
Coco Gauff
Gauff’s empathetic being and the thinking « Outside the Box » are not a matter of course for a young tennis multimillionaire. These characteristics come from their family background: « I taught grandmother to meet every situation with friendliness and understanding. »
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Those grandmother, Yvonne Lee Odom, grew up at a time that encountered you with unfriendliness and incomprehension – if you were a young black man and lived in Florida.
In the final, the Belarus Aryna Sabalenka is waiting for Coco Gauff. Photo: AFP
Odom was the first black man in 1961, which visited the Seakrest High School visited exclusively by white in Delray Beach, she completed her first day of school under high security precautions. She remained the fighter for the right of black people to this day, became a teacher and Coco’s great role model. « Against what she had to go through, » says Gauff, « is what I do – write tweets, keep a speech. »
Above all, thanks to Grandma, Gauff knows that tennis is not everything. « If I generally enjoy life more, I also play better, » she says. What if you lose the final again? « Then it feels like a end of the world at first. But do you know what? The sun will open again the morning after. »
