Tragic Details About Coco Gauff

At just 20 years old, Coco Gauff is tennis' new superstar. She's won 7 singles titles over the course of her career and is currently the #2 ranked woman player in the world at the time of this writing. Talk about serving. Her road to the 2024 Paris Olympics hit a few bumps, but the tennis phenom displayed her exceptional talents on the world stage as representative of the United States. Along with NBA living legend and Olympic golf-medalist, LeBron James, Gauff was chosen to be a U.S. flag-bearer in her Olympics debut. 

I just want to say thank you to my fellow team usa olympians/athletes for voting and choosing me for this incredible honor to be the flag bearer for the opening ceremony ❤️. Thank you so much. I am incredibly honored. 🥹🇺🇸

— Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) July 24, 2024

Unfortunately, Gauff's first Olympics didn't go as planned after losing her third-round matchup in straight sets to Croatia's Donna Vekic. Gauff isn't just a tennis star and Olympian, however. She uses her voice and platform to speak out about important issues — like her rousing speech at a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Florida. "If you are choosing silence, you're choosing the side of the oppressor," she told the crowd (per USA Today). Much like the message of her eloquent speech, Gauff understands tragedy can strike anyone and that she is no different.

Coco Gauff found herself in an unexpected news cycle after using the word "depressed" in a post written for Behind the Racquet when she was 16. In the post, she explained that experiencing success at such an early age came with pressure and hype she wasn't adequately prepared to deal with at the time. "For about a year I was really depressed," she wrote.

Gauff's father and coach, Corey Gauff, felt the need to clarify his daughter's remarks. "... I knew that was going to be the word that got picked up," he said (via The New York Times), stating Coco was never officially diagnosed with clinical depression. "There's no medicine going on," he added. Noah Rubin, the creator of Behind the Racquet, interviewed Coco prior to publishing her post. He issued an apology for not clarifying her use of the word. "It's completely my fault that I didn't go deeper into what she meant by depressed," he said, adding, "the word 'depression' is a trigger word, and people start questioning things."

At the age of 17, Coco Gauff was set to make her Olympic debut in Tokyo, then tragedy struck: she tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. "It has always been a dream of mine to represent USA at the Olympics, and I hope there will be many more chances for me to make this dream come true in the future," she announced on X on July 18, 2021.

Exactly three years to the day of her positive test, NBC Olympics published a letter that Gauff wrote to her 17-year-old self. "Your eyes don't deceive you — that's a positive COVID-19 test. The next one you take will be positive too, as will the third. It's official — you have COVID, and it's ruining all your big plans," she wrote. In the letter, Gauff stated part of her healing process was to look outside the game of tennis and into the greater world to help make it a better place. Seeing the bigger picture and viewing this setback as just another obstacle to overcome, Gauff told herself that her new goal was "qualifying for the 2024 Paris Games."

In the semi-final round of the 2024 French Open, Coco Gauff faced the #1 women's tennis player in the world, Iga Swiatek. During the match, Gauff got into a heated exchange with chair umpire Aurélie Tourte. The incident occured after a Swiatek serve was called "out" before the call was reversed. 

Coco Gauff is not happy with a decision from the umpire in her match against Swiatek

Iga hit a serve that was called out but the umpire overruled it.

Coco missed the return. Coco says she hit the ball after the line call was made.

The umpire disagrees.

The crowd boos.... pic.twitter.com/OzbIANQS7d

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) June 6, 2024

Gauff argued that the initial call affected her attempt to return Swiatek's serve, but she lost that argument. The disappointed Gauff was visibly shaken as she wiped tears from her eyes. Gauff ended up losing the match, 6-2, 6-4. Gauff was still heated after the loss and railed against the ruling and the fact that tennis doesn't have real-time video replay. "There are so many decisions that are made, and it sucks as a player to go back or [watch] online, and you see that you were completely right," she said (via Associated Press). "And it's, like: What does that give you in that moment?"

It is safe to say that Coco Gauff wasn't a fan of the 2024 French Open. Her loss to Iga Swiatek was compounded by scheduling times that saw some matches end at 3 a.m. due to their late start times. "I definitely think it's not healthy," Gauff said (via ESPN), claiming the late start time affects player's schedules and routines. "I feel like a lot of times people think you're done, but really, 3 a.m., then you have (media responsibilities) and then you have to shower, eat, and then a lot of times people do treatments," she continued, adding that those things off court can keep a player awake until way after dawn.

Never one to hold her tongue, Gauff added, "I think that we're their product, essentially ..." She also openly wondered if this is what fans want. "I don't know if the fans are watching these matches, if they have to go to work next day or something when the matches are finishing at 2 or 3 a.m," she said.

Coco Gauff has no issue with speaking out about politics. Her fiery speech at a Black Lives Matter protest when she was 16 wasn't a one-off. During a 2024 interview with the Associated Press, Gauff openly criticized Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Although Gauff was born in Atlanta, Florida is her real home state. Discussing Ron DeSantis' quest to ban books and Florida's state of police brutality, Gauff stated it is "a crazy time to be a Floridian, especially a Black one at that."

"We aren't happy with the current state of our government in Florida, especially everything with the books and just the way our office operates," Gauff continued, while encouraging her generation to lead the charge for change. "At the end of the day, it comes down to the youth and the community being outspoken," she said. Gauff added that if you don't engage in the political process by exercising your right to vote, you can't complain about the outcome.