The 2023 US Open winner, Coco Gauff, was honored by TIME with a place on its yearly Women of the Year list, which honors exceptional leaders working for global equality. Gauff, a 19-year-old athlete, is the youngest woman on the list.
Gauff has always been an activist and an advocate. Her father used to tell her as a child that she could use her racquet to change the world. She doesn’t plan to stop speaking out on her platform.
Gauff said: “Especially in this day and age, I will say that growing up in tennis, coming from the lineage of Billie Jean King, Venus Williams, and Althea Gibson, I feel like this sport is very popular in advocating for equality and justice. I feel comfortable doing that.”
She added: “Growing up with my family and my family history, I feel like that’s just something I knew, whether I was going to be a tennis player or not; even if I was a kid in a regular high school, I would probably be part of some club or something to that degree. I just feel like that’s something I’ve been passionate about since I was little.”
Gauff concluded her discussion and said: “I’m a person. I have opinions. I have thoughts. I feel like I have a responsibility with the platform tennis has given me to not use it in vain.”
Gauff in Dubai, ranking, and results in 2024
Ranked no.3 (career-high), Gauff has managed to achieve an overall 12-2 record in 2024. Gauff is now playing in Dubai where she bested the world no.58 Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1 7-5 and the world no.36 Karolina Pliskova 2-6 6-4 6-3.
Coco Gauff will face the world no.40 Anna Kalinskaya in the quarter. In the past, they have never competed against each other as of now on the main tour.
The American clinched 1 title in 2024 in Auckland.
Coco won 7 titles in her career: 5 on hard courts, 1 on clay courts and 1 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
