https://www.si.com/tennis/2023/11/15/tennis-mailbag-novak-djokovic-motivation-submission-coco-gauff-us-open
Mailbag: Novak Djokovic’s Motivation and a Submission on Coco Gauff
by Jon Wertheim
November 15, 2023
Sports Illustrated
...a writer offers another perspective on the 19-year-old American’s U.S. Open speech.
Take us out, J. Smith …
Hi Jon,
In your “50 Closing Thoughts” column on the 2023 U.S. Open, in response to a reader who questioned Coco Gauff’s acceptance speech, in which she thanked “the people who didn’t believe in me,” you responded, “What a pity she would fixate on the minuscule minority of trolls who, likely, know nothing about tennis. What a pity she wouldn’t recognize that she is adored.”
Let’s be clear, Coco Gauff and her team certainly understand that [she] is adored (by many); however, she is also crystal clear that popularity doesn’t insulate her, as a Black athlete, from soul-crushing racism on a daily basis. On [X, formally known as Twitter] yesterday, Coco Gauff elaborated even further on this issue when she said, “Death threats, racism, body shaming, it’s exhausting!”
From Tiger Woods being called a “little boy” and told “not to serve fried chicken, collard greens or whatever the hell they serve,” to Black soccer players this summer subjected to “fans” throwing bananas on the field, to the late great Hank Aaron, who received over 300,000 pieces of hate mail while breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record, racism in sports is a daily assault on one’s mental health AND a sad reality unique to Black athletes.
To be clear, while all athletes face vitriol from disgruntled gamblers, trolls and bots (such is the age of social media), we all—sportswriters included—do a huge disservice in eradicating the scourge of racism when we perpetuate this false narrative that sport is some colorblind world where it’s all about achievement. Sadly, this is not the reality for 19-year-old Coco Gauff nor 18-year-old Serena Williams before her (e.g., Indian Wells). All too often, over the years, we have seen Black athletes such as Derek Jeter lauded as “class acts” (which basically translates to never addressing the ugly truth about racism). In contrast, athletes such as LeBron James are often labeled by the media as “angry” and told to “shut and dribble,” when they dare to refute this false narrative of sports as some colorblind world where only accomplishments matter.
In conclusion, I submit to you that Coco Gauff wasn’t “fixating on trolls” but rather, addressing the elephant in the room called racism. Contrary to popular belief, racism isn’t going to just magically disappear by pretending it doesn’t exist. After starting out her speech by saying, “I tried my best to carry this with grace,” [Gauff] then proceeds to adroitly tackle the issue head-on. While I’m sure her handlers have all warned her about the potential negative economic impact on her marketability/brand when she addresses unpopular subjects such as Black Lives Matter, etc., it is abundantly clear that Coco Gauff is the granddaughter of a civil rights activist, so refusing to speak “truth to power” just isn’t an option for her. As a proud American, I must say that I am extremely proud not only of this amazingly self-aware young lady but also [of] this entire new generation of young Black athletes like Coco (here’s looking at you, too, Naomi Osaka), who aren’t afraid to use their platforms to address unpleasant subject matters, for the betterment of all of us.
Respectfully,
J. Smith
by D'Arcy Maine
September 9, 2023
ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- Coco Gauff won her first major title on Saturday at the US Open with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Aryna Sabalenka in front of an adoring crowd under the roof on a stormy day at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
After the match, the 19-year-old American fell to the ground and lay on her back on the court before sobbing in celebration. After hugging Sabalenka, Gauff ran up the stairs to tearfully hug her parents and then the rest of her team.
Moments later, Gauff told the star-studded crowd, which included Kevin Durant, Diane Keaton, Nicole Kidman, Spike Lee, Mindy Kaling and 2006 champion Maria Sharapova, that she still hadn't fully processed the victory.
"Oh my goodness, it means so much to me," Gauff told ESPN's Mary Joe Fernandez. "I feel like I'm a little bit in shock in this moment. That [2022] French Open loss was a heartbreak for me. But I realized God put you through tribulations and trials and that makes this moment even sweeter than I could have imagined."
After the match, several high-profile celebrities, including former President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and President Joe Biden, sent her congratulatory messages over social media.
Gauff is the youngest American to win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999 and the first American player to win a major title since Sofia Kenin at the Australian Open in 2020. Gauff also became the first woman to win the title in New York after dropping the first set in three matches during her title run since Williams, also in 1999.
When speaking to the media after the match, Gauff said it was an honor to have her name listed on the same trophy as Williams and her sister Venus, who won the title a combined eight times.
"I mean, they're the reason why I have this trophy today, to be honest," Gauff said. "They have allowed me to believe in this dream. Growing up, there weren't too many Black tennis players dominating the sport. It was literally, at that time when I was younger, it was just them that I can remember.
"Obviously more came because of their legacy, so it made the dream more believable. But all the things that they had to go through, they made it easier for someone like me to do this."
Gauff, the tournament's No. 6 seed, was broken in the first game of the match and struggled to find any rhythm in the nervy 40-minute opening set. Since the first set winner had won 27 of the previous 28 US Open women's finals, history was not on her side. But she took control in the second set, breaking Sabalenka in the fourth game and recording an 81% win percentage on first serve. Her confidence grew with every point, and her "Come on!" screams and fist pumps became increasingly more animated.
In the deciding set, it was all Gauff. She jumped to a 4-0 lead and withheld Sabalenka's last-ditch efforts and a medical timeout at 4-1. After two hours and six minutes, Gauff was the US Open champion.
"You played unbelievable," Sabalenka said to Gauff during the on-court trophy ceremony. "Congrats to you and your team, you guys deserve this title. Many more to come, I'm pretty sure."
Despite still being a teenager, Gauff has been one of the sport's most recognizable stars since she burst onto the scene at Wimbledon in 2019 and reached the fourth round as a 15-year-old qualifier. Since then, she's won five WTA titles and reached the final at the 2022 French Open.
With several high-profile sponsorship deals and a growing presence on social media, Gauff has remained under the spotlight and the expectations for her career have continued to increase. On Saturday, Gauff said the pressure has been overwhelming at times, and she felt she was expected to immediately win a major title after her run to the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2019.
"It's been difficult," she said. "I mean, it's been a long journey to this point. I wasn't a fully developed player, and I still think I have a lot of development to go. At that moment, I think people were putting a lot of pressure on me to win. I felt that at 15 I had to win a Slam at 15.
"I think that was, you know, not the mistake, because everything led to this moment so there were no mistakes, but that was a little bit of the pressure that I was feeling. Now I just realize that I just need to go out there and try my best."
After losing in the first round at Wimbledon in July, Gauff brought in a new team, including coach Pere Riba and consultant Brad Gilbert. Since then, she's won the titles in Washington D.C., and Cincinnati and is 18-1 during the current hard-court swing. She defeated two Grand Slam champions en route to the final, as well as 2023 French Open runner-up Karolina Muchova in the semifinals.
Gauff told the crowd she had been motivated by those who had doubted her.
"I want to say honestly thank you to the people who didn't believe in me," Gauff said. "A month ago, I won a 500 title and people said, I would stop at that. Two weeks ago, I won a 1000 title and people were saying that was the biggest it was going to get. So three weeks later, I'm here with this trophy right now.
Gauff later told reporters she had been reading comments online from those who didn't think she was going to win right up until the match.
In addition to earning $3 million for the victory -- something she thanked Billie Jean King for fighting for as she received it -- Gauff will improve to a career-high ranking of No. 3 on Monday. Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion, will take over the No. 1 ranking for the first time despite the loss.
Gauff will also return to the top spot in the doubles ranking, alongside partner Jessica Pegula. The pair reached the quarterfinals at the US Open.
VIDEO:
All,
CONGRATULATIONS COCO!!
YOU'RE AN INSPIRATION AND A GREAT CHAMPION IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD...
https://www.tennis.com/.../quote-of-day-coco-gauff-thanks...
COCO THANKS THE HATERS:
COCO GAUFF: "Thank you to the people who didn't believe in me. Like a month ago, I won a 500 title and people said I would stop at that. Two weeks ago, I won a 1000 title and people were saying that was the biggest I was going to get. So three weeks later, I'm here with this trophy right now.
I tried my best to carry this with grace and I've been doing my best. So honestly, to those who thought [they] were putting water on my fire, you're really adding gas to it. And now I'm really burning so bright right now."
"What's Past is Prologue..."
https://www.olympicchannel.com/…/coco-gauff-teenager-tenni…/
Not old enough to vote, teen tennis star Coco Gauff speaking out anyway
At 16, the American tennis prodigy can't legally vote yet in the U.S. But that hasn't stopped one of the sport's next big stars from emerging as an outspoken leader among peers.
PHOTO: Cori "Coco" Gauff (b. March 13, 2004)
In the viral video, the crowd erupted in support of Cori Gauff. But she wasn't standing on a tennis court – she was standing behind a podium and microphone.
If the summer of 2019 was when the American teenage tennis sensation known as Coco let her racket do the talking, the summer of 2020 has been when the 16 year old has found her voice.
Outspoken on social media, Gauff has used her platform to speak up during the Black Lives Matter movement, though her most notable moment came from a speech in her hometown of Delray Beach, FL., which was picked up by news organisations around the world.
“I demand change now,” Gauff said at a June 4 rally, adding, to the crowd: “You need to use your voice. No matter how big or small your platform is, you need to use your voice.”
Gauff will not be of legal age, 18, to vote in November’s U.S. presidential election. Though her memorable runs at last year’s Wimbledon and US Open tournaments made her an overnight sensation, she has, at such a young age, arrived not only as a tennis prodigy, but a cultural and political one, too.
“Why am I here at 16 demanding change?” Gauff continued in her passionate speech. “It breaks my heart. I’m fighting for the future. … For my brothers, for my future grandchildren.”
Just over a year ago is when Gauff broke into the mainstream, already a much-talked-about up-and-comer in the world of women’s tennis as a junior Grand Slam champion.
Having won three qualifying matches to make the main draw at Wimbledon, she was pitted against five-time champion there and Olympic gold medallist Venus Williams, a childhood hero.
On the No.1 Court and in front of an international TV audience, she’d defeat Williams, and then go onto make the fourth round, with two more stirring victories. She lost to eventual champion Simona Halep of Romania.
In the months following, Gauff, limited by the number of tournaments she could compete in because of her under-18 status, soared in terms of both ranking and popularity.
She won her first WTA doubles title in Washington, DC, with good friend Caty McNally; made the third round of the US Open and lost to defending champion Naomi Osaka in a much-heralded primetime clash; won her first singles title in Europe in October; and then beat both Venus and Naomi at the Australian Open in January, a match that drew equal fanfare Down Under.
Her ranking, frozen due to the coronavirus pandemic, is No.52 in the world on the WTA, just off her career high of No.49 in February.
While the heyday of teenage stars in women’s tennis has mostly passed – think Jennifer Capriati, Martina Hingis, the Williams sisters, and more – Gauff’s success at such a young age in this era has been a headline-grabber, but so too has her outspokenness, authenticity, and maturity at such a young age.
“She’s become an activist in the wake of [Black Lives Matter]", said well-known American Olympic commentator Mary Carillo in an interview with TSN.
After she lost at the US Open last year to Osaka, the then-world No.1 from Japan made the extraordinary move of inviting Gauff to do the on-court interview with her. Coco agreed. The moment was lauded for its sportsmanship by Osaka, who said she wanted to give Gauff the chance to address the crowd that had come to see her, even after a loss.
Finding her voice
Tennis has seen many of its young stars of color speak up in recent months, including the aforementioned Osaka, Venus and Serena Williams, American Frances Tiafoe and France’s Gael Monfils, among many others.
But none of them are quite as young as Gauff, who also boasts over 200,000 followers on Twitter, nearly 700,000 on Instagram, and a growing fanbase on TikTok, where she has 55,000 followers.
On the tennis court, with Tokyo 2020 pushed to next year, Gauff has even more chances to move her ranking up once the pro tour resumes. She currently sits at ninth among U.S. women while only the top four are picked for Team USA.
2016 Olympians Serena (who owns one singles golds and three in doubles), Sloane Stephens, and Madison Keys rank ahead of her, as does the sport’s most recent Grand Slam champion, Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin.
The cutoff for tennis qualification has moved to early June of 2021.
A long road ahead
While fans will have to wait for the scheduled tennis season – the fan-less US Open in September and a host of other events later in the year – to see Gauff back on the court, she continues to be her true self on social media.
A Black Lives Matter call to action is pasted in both her Instagram and TikTok profiles, though much of the content has returned to what a teenager more commonly focuses on at 16: Music tastes, dance numbers, and plain silliness.
If her breakout year is any indication, Gauff's tennis – and her voice – are going to be around for a long, long time.
PHOTO: Cori "Coco" Gauff (b. March 13, 2004)
It doesn’t matter if Coco Gauff loses on Thursday in the semifinals of the U.S. Open or wins it all, history has already been made — again — by a Black woman in the sport of tennis. The 19-year-old became the first American teen to reach the semifinals at the Open since Serena Williams did it in 2001 — almost three years before Gauff was born.
“I’m still in the mindset that I’m in the beginning of the tournament,” Gauff told reporters. “That’s what I have learned in the past [from] being in quarterfinals. Before, I would think, ‘Close to the end.’ But right now, I have the mentality that I told myself, ‘I still have another two weeks to play.’ So that’s where my mind is at. Then, obviously, when it’s over, it’s over. But right now, I’m just saying, ‘Another two weeks.’”
To say that Black women own tennis would be an understatement, as they’ve become the entire sport. And if you disagree with that statement it’ll be because you wrongly think it’s dipped in American arrogance or you hilariously believe that there’s been some combination of white male and female players that have been able to dominate center court for the last few decades like Black women have.
And if you’re of that thinking, you’re no better than the haters that Gibson had to deal with back in the 1950s.
“This Year’s U.S. Open Belongs to Coco Gauff, Win or Lose. It has become clear that Gauff, at age 19, is the queen of this U.S. Open,” reads the headline of a recent piece from the New York Times — by a white male writer.
And if that wasn’t enough evidence, check this out from SportsMediaWatch — which was written before Gauff’s Round of 16 match last Sunday:
“US Open viewership was bound to decline from last year, when Serena Williams’ swan song delivered some of the largest tennis audiences in ESPN history. In the absence of Williams, Coco Gauff has emerged as the biggest name — and ESPN will need her to build on her summer success and make a deep run in order to drive viewership. She faces Caroline Wozniacki in the round of 16 Sunday, and while the schedule of play has yet to be released, it stands to reason the match will be featured in ABC’s new mid-afternoon window — the first US Open window on broadcast television in nine years. Between the matchup, the network, and the fact that last year’s Williams-fueled ratings boom had already faded by the weekend, expect a solid increase in viewership.”
But to truly understand how Black women have gotten to a place in which a sport with a history like tennis is owned by women who look like them, you have to realize all the hurdles they’ve overcome while dominating the sport. Because when you’re a double minority, mastering your sport isn’t good enough. You also have to be an expert at dealing with the bullsh*t that comes your way.
Like…
When “the media” and others create a fake rival — that you’ve historically pummeled — because no one had ever been good enough to be an adequate longtime opponent for you. Yes, I’m talking about the pathetic narrative around Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
Or…
How about when the sport’s most famous tournament knows it’s nothing without you, and grants you a wild-card entry to participate — at age 40 — because everyone knows there’s no point in watching if you aren’t playing. Yes, I’m talking about last year’s situation between Serena Williams and Wimbledon. But, I’m also talking about this year’s situation with Venus Williams and Wimbledon when they granted the 697th-ranked and 43-year-old a wild card in June.
And don’t forget about when…
Margaret Court went full Jan Brady and dared to say that Serena Williams didn’t “admire her ‘’ because she was jealous that everybody was talking about the number of Grand Slams that Williams has, and not her, proving that envy and racism were the only true rivals that Serena ever encountered. It’s similar to how so many in “the media ‘’ and within the sport take such offense anytime Naomi Osaka does what’s best for Naomi Osaka, and not the tennis world.
The thing about golf and tennis is that in individual sports, one person truly can be the face of something, which is different from football, basketball, hockey, and baseball when you’re part of a team. In the 1990s and early 2000s, tennis was full of male and female stars from America and across the globe. But, something changed when those two little Black girls with beads in their hair showed up — and the sport hasn’t been the same since. From Venus and Serena Williams to Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys — in smaller doses — to Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff, tennis’ popularity and growth has been caused and sustained by Black women in skirts — and catsuits. And if you have an issue accepting that, then that’s a double fault.
