The Root; Published By Stephanie Holland
Amidst a lot of talk about the future of tennis and who will take over as the new face of the sport, Coco Gauff has become a standout as the athlete everyone is watching. The 19-year-old star made it to the 2022 French Open final, before she lost to world No. 1 Iga Świątek. Now, she’s set to get a rematch in the 2023 French Open quarter-finals. Coco has looked really strong in this year’s tournament. Though she’s lost a couple sets along the way, she’s kept her cool and showed a spectacular maturity in her game. She attributes her positive mindset to being in Paris.
“I just like walking around here,” Gauff told ESPN. “I mind my business. I love walking around the city, I love people watching and the fashion is really cool here.”
Gauff has been open about how much losing last year hurt. But even though the media wants to talk about it non-stop, she’s trying to stay focused on this year’s competition. After her 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 first-round win over Rebeka Masarova, she was asked about coming back after losing the first set, to which she noted she was in a “bleep last year’s final, and bleep the first set” mental space. Read more
