Tennis Star Coco Gauff Is Open to Playing Every Discipline at the Paris Olympics (2024)

2004-present

Coco Gauff Today: U.S. Tennis Star Makes Olympic Team

Coco Gauff had her eye on the Paris Olympics months ahead of time—even as early as January. “One of the goals I wrote down on my vision thing, vision note, in my phone, was to win a medal in the Olympics,” Gauff said while competing at the Australian Open earlier this year.

Gauff, now 20, officially received that opportunity on June 20, when she was named to the 2024 U.S. Olympic team. The No. 2-ranked women’s player in the world and top American, Gauff will be joined in France by her regular doubles partner Jessica Pegula as well as Danielle Collins, Emma Navarro, and Desirae Krawczyk. Olympic matches begin in Paris on July 27.

The Florida native has expressed interest in competing in all three Olympic disciplines: singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. “We’ll have to see where I fall in the lineup ranking-wise and all of that. That definitely is a priority,” Gauff said. “The Olympics have been a priority in both singles and doubles.”

Gauff, who is set to compete at Wimbledon in early July, is trying to become the first U.S. tennis player, male or female, to win gold in singles play since Serena Williams at the 2012 London Games. Gauff was selected for the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics but had to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19.

Tennis player Coco Gauff won the 2023 U.S. Open at age 19 and is considered the best young American women’s player since Serena Williams. A Florida native, Gauff sparked “Cocomania” after receiving a wild card entry to Wimbledon in 2019 and defeating five-time tournament champion Venus Williams in the first round. That year, the teenage phenom also reached the third round of the U.S. Open and won her first singles title. Her game has only continued to improve, and she will represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

FULL NAME: Cori Dionne Gauff
BORN: March 13, 2004
BIRTHPLACE: Delray Beach, Florida
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Pisces

Cori Dionne Gauff, better known as Coco Gauff, was born on March 13, 2004, in Delray Beach, Florida. She was named after her father, Corey, and told Sports Illustrated Kids that, to avoid confusion with their similar names, her aunt suggested calling her Coco, a play on one of her father’s old nicknames. Coco has two younger brothers, Cameron and Cody.

Athleticism runs in the family. Her dad played Division I basketball at Georgia State University. Her mother, Candi, was a gymnast who also participated in Division I track and field at Florida State University. Because Coco’s parents were athletes, they wanted their firstborn to pursue a sport. So, she began playing tennis at the age of 6.

Coco spent her early years in Georgia. Her mother was a teacher, while her father was a pharmaceuticals executive. To support Gauff’s tennis training and career, her parents opted to leave their jobs and move back to Delray Beach. Candi began to homeschool her daughter, while Corey became her coach.

By the time she was 10 years old, Gauff had traveled to France to work with Patrick Mouratoglou, who coached Serena Williams. She continued to train with Mouratoglou, but her father was her main coach.

Corey has said of Gauff’s development, “Be a well-rounded athlete, learn other sports—that’s one thing we emphasized with Coco early on; she was in gymnastics, soccer, basketball, and she ran track. We wanted her to develop as a total athlete.”

Gauff won the United States Tennis Association Clay Court National 12-under title in 2014. In 2017, she took second place at the U.S. Open Girls Junior Championships. The next year she became the junior champion at the French Open.

Due to WTA rules instituted in 1994, young tennis stars can’t turn pro until they reach age 18, though there are exceptions for participating in a limited number of professional events every year. Some people have questioned whether the structure, intended to protect players, is too limiting. Because Gauff was only permitted a certain number of tournaments, she had been slower to rise in the player rankings during her first couple years of competition.

In January 2019, Gauff told friends and family her goal for the year was to become one of the top 100 ranked players in the WTA. She was ranked No. 685 at the time. She made her WTA debut that March at the Miami Open—just a week after turning 15—and won her first match against fellow American Caty McNally.

In June 2019, Gauff scrambled to get to London after receiving a wild card slot to play at Wimbledon. In the first, round she faced off against Venus Williams. In addition to being a five-time champion at Wimbledon, Williams and her sister Serena were Gauff’s tennis idols. Gauff came out triumphant and later credited a conversation she had with former pro Mary Joe Fernández for giving her confidence before the match. “I remember before I talked to her, I was just grateful for the opportunity, and I wanted to see how well I could do and she completely changed my mindset,” Gauff told Sports Illustrated Kids. “She was like, ‘No, you have to go into this match thinking that you can win and believing that you can win.’”

The 15-year-old made it to Wimbledon’s fourth round, the youngest player to do so since 1991. Her success drew so much attention it inspired the term “Cocomania.” Soon afterward, she lasted until the third round of the U.S. Open, again the youngest to accomplish the feat since 1991. Her loss was followed by a moment of touching sportsmanship when winner Naomi Osaka invited Gauff to take part in the post-match interview.

Gauff’s first WTA title came at Austria’s Linz Open in October 2019. This triumph was made possible, in part, because she was able to qualify for the tournament’s main draw as a “lucky loser” after another player left due to injury. Gauff also climbed to No. 71 in the world that month, meeting the ranking goal she’d set for herself. She ended the year at No. 68.

In 2020, Gauff reached the fourth round of the Australian Open after beating Osaka in the third round. Gauff ascended to the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2021, the youngest player to reach that spot since 2006. Also in 2021, she got to the fourth round of Wimbledon and added another WTA singles title to her collection with a win in Parma, Italy.

In addition to her singles success, Gauff has played in and won doubles tournaments, often with McNally. An injury prevented McNally from partnering with Gauff at the 2021 French Open, so Gauff played doubles there with Venus Williams. Unfortunately, they lost in the first round.

In 2020, Gauff shared in an essay that before her success at Wimbledon in 2019, she’d experienced “this pressure that I needed to do well fast.” She’d also struggled with depression for “about a year.” She noted that things changed for her after “I realized I needed to start playing for myself and not other people.” She said of this struggle: “I came out of it stronger and knowing myself better than ever.”

2023 U.S. Open Victory

Although Gauff was ranked solidly in the top 10 starting in September 2022, she had yet to win a Grand Slam tournament. Her best finish was as runner-up at the 2022 French Open. However, she finally broke through with her first Grand Slam title at the 2023 U.S. Open.

The 19-year-old entered the tournament with major momentum after defeating No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek to become the youngest woman to win the singles title at the Western & Southern Open just weeks earlier.

Once in New York, Gauff preceded to win six matches, including three against players inside the top 20 and a semifinal that was interrupted for about 50 minutes by a climate protest, to clinch her spot in the final. She claimed an overall victory with a three-set win over Belarusian player Aryna Sabalenka on September 9. She became the youngest American woman to win the tournament since Serena Williams in 1999.

Gauff claimed her second major title in June 2024, this time winning doubles at the French Open with partner Katerina Siniaková.

2020 and 2024 Olympics

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a one-year delay for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. In 2021, Gauff was selected for the U.S. Olympic team following her success at the French Open in June. The 17-year-old would have been the youngest tennis Olympian since 2000.

Ultimately, a positive COVID test forced Gauff to withdraw from the Games. On July 18, 2021, she wrote on Twitter: “I am so disappointed to share the news that I have tested positive for COVID and won’t be able to play in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. It has always been a dream of mine to represent the USA at the Olympics, and I hope there will be many more chances for me to make this come true in the future. I want to wish TEAM USA best of luck and a safe games for every Olympian and the entire Olympic family.”

Gauff won’t be kept off the world stage at the next Games. As the No. 2-ranked player in the world and the top American, she was selected to represent the U.S. at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. She is expected to compete in singles and doubles with partner Jessica Pegula.

Gauff has quickly ascended through the professional ranks after ranking as low as No. 875 in the early stages of her career in 2018.

As of June 24, 2024, Gauff owns the WTA No. 2 ranking in women’s singles, marking the highest of her career. She is behind only five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Światek of Poland. In women’s doubles, Gauff is currently ranked No. 11. She previously held the top spot, first in August 2022 and again in September 2023 with partner Jessica Pegula.

In addition to her U.S. Open singles win, Gauff reached one other major final at the 2022 French Open as well as two semifinals, at the 2024 Australian Open and French Open. Her career stats as of June 28, 2024, are:

• Career singles matches won: 207
• Career singles losses: 92
• Singles titles: 7
• Doubles titles: 9
• Major singles titles: 1 (2023 U.S. Open)
• Major doubles titles: 1 (2024 French Open)
• Career prize money: $14,854,767

Celebrity Net Worth appraises Gauff’s total fortune at around $3.5 million as of February 2024, though other estimates are higher. In any case, Gauff’s earnings have steadily risen during her career.

She won $538,103 in prize money in 2019 and $509,862 in 2020. Her winnings climbed above $1 million in 2021. Gauff earned $3 million for her breakthrough U.S. Open victory in 2023 and, according to the WTA, has received more than $14.8 million in career prize money as of June 2024.

Off the court, Gauff has endorsem*nt deals with companies that include New Balance, Barilla, Bose, UPS, and Baker Tilly. Due largely to those partnerships, Gauff became the highest-paid female athlete of 2023 according to Sportico, earning an estimated $22.7 million. The tennis star is represented by Team8, an agency co-founded by Roger Federer.

While Gauff has preferred to keep details of her personal life private, she revealed to Time in an April 2024 article that she has been in a relationship for more than a year.

Although she hasn’t publicly shared her boyfriend’s identity, Gauff has said that he’s from Atlanta and not a tennis player, telling Vogue he is applying to music school and an aspiring actor. “To just have someone to talk to who is not involved in tennis at all gives me a fresh perspective,” she explained to Time. Gauff has suggested her boyfriend might attend at some of her U.S. tournaments in 2024.

Gauff, who has more than 1.7 million followers on Instagram and more than 630,000 followers on TikTok as of June 2024, hasn’t been afraid to use her stature to speak about issues such as climate change and racial injustice.

In 2019, Gauff said, “My generation has just decided it was time to speak up on our own about things. I do follow the [climate] movement a lot, and I’m learning about ways we can better change, at least my lifestyle and the way my family live[s].” She shared information online with followers about Juneteenth years before it became a federal holiday in 2021.

In 2020, Gauff spoke at a Black Lives Matter protest in Florida, noting she was protesting against the same injustices her grandmother fought “50-plus years ago.”

A couple years later in 2023, Gauff had a surprisingly calm reaction after a climate change protest stopped her 2023 U.S. Open semifinal match against Karolína Muchová for roughly 50 minutes. “I don’t really know exactly what they were protesting. I know it was about the environment. I 100 percent believe in that,” she said. “I always speak about preaching what you feel and what you believe in. It was done in a peaceful way, so I can’t get too mad at it.”

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