I have always loved tennis, but I never felt educated enough about it to express my opinions. With the start of 2023, however, came the release of “Break Point,” a Netflix Original docuseries that follows top names in tennis as they compete in tournaments including the four Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open). Break Point offers an incredible introduction to the players, tournament logistics, and the inner workings of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tours. I was a dedicated viewer of this year’s US Open, and now Coco Gauff is all that I can think about.
Serena Williams ran the Grand Slam women’s singles board throughout the 2000s and 2010s, with 23 wins spanning from 2000 to 2017. Her exit from the WTA left shoes to be filled and tennis enthusiasts everywhere looking for the next big thing.
Over the past three years, top female Grand Slam title holders have included Iga Świątek, Naomi Osaka, and Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka is currently the WTA top-ranked female tennis player in the world, and on September 9th, Cori “Coco” Gauff took down Sabalenka in three sets to win the US Open and her first Grand Slam title at 19.
Born in 2004 in Florida to athletes Candi and Corey Gauff, Gauff first picked up a racket at age six. By fourteen, she had turned pro, and the next year she qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon. At only nineteen, she is now ranked third in Women’s singles and first in Women’s doubles worldwide.
She has been vocal about Serena and Venus Williams being her idols since she began playing tennis in 2010. Her defeat of Venus at Wimbledon four years ago was incidentally one of the things that named her as a player to watch, and she has been impressing the crowds and players alike ever since.
My obsession continues off the court, too. Gauff’s involvement in fashion is something that I love to see. Her New Balance collection is bright, bold, and beautiful, bringing something new to tennis just like Gauff. It is incredibly easy to forget that the athletes we watch and root for have lives outside of their sport, but watching Gauff serve on and off the court makes me so excited for the future of tennis.
She is strong. She is feminine, and she is here to stay. So call her Coco.