Coco Gauff has come a long way in four years – new US Open champ is a phenomenon

The first sighting of Coco Gauff was at Wimbledon qualifying in 2019. I cannot recall which British player I had gone to see but I still remember the buzz of excitement as news of the teenage wildcard spread around Roehampton and fans were drawn to her court like bees to a honeypot.

Little did we know that day that we were all witnessing a cultural, as well as a tennis, phenomenon – and a player mature beyond her young years. She became the youngest qualifier to reach the main draw at Wimbledon in the Open Era at 15 years and 122 days old – and beat Venus Williams on her way to the fourth round.

It has taken the 2022 French Open runner-up four years to translate her huge potential into a Grand Slam title. And she won the US Open in the delirious Arthur Ashe Stadium a year after the retirement of Serena Williams – the last American teenager to win the title here – and in front of Hollywood and US sporting royalty. She is the new Queen of Queens.

But as she showed with her tacit approval of the climate change protests which disrupted her semi-final win, she is more than just a new sporting superstar. “She is an extraordinary tennis player and an even more extraordinary human being,” Chris Evert told ESPN. “She has spoken out on important issues. She has a social conscience.”

Three years ago, when she was only 16, spoke at a Black Lives Matter rally in her hometown of Delray Beach in Florida just after the death of George Floyd. “No matter how big or small your platform is, you need to use your voice,” she said. “I saw a Dr King quote that said: ‘The silence of the good people is worse than the brutality of the bad people’. We need not be silent.”

Then after winning her 2022 French Open semi-final, she wrote: “Peace. End Gun Violence” with a picture of a heart on a TV camera as she left the court. Gauff’s message came after a spate of mass shootings in the USA, including a racially motivated mass shooting in a Buffalo supermarket.

“Hopefully, it gets into the heads of people in office to hopefully change things,” she said after revealing she was inspired to use her platform by other high-profile athletes. Definitely, I would say LeBron James, Serena (Williams), Billie Jean (King), Colin (Kaepernick), the list goes on, Naomi (Osaka), it goes on really about those issues.

“I think now athletes are more fine with speaking out about stuff like this. I feel like a lot of times we’re put in a box that people always say: ‘Oh, sports and politics should stay separate and all this.’ And I say: ‘Yes, but also at the same time, I’m a human first before I’m a tennis player.’”

So when her Thursday night semi-final was interrupted by Extinction Rebellion activists – one who glued his feet to the stadium floor – she admitted she didn’t get “too mad”. Gauff explained: “Throughout history, moments like this are definitely defining moments. I believe in climate change. I think there are things we can do better.

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“I know the tournaments are doing things to do better for the environment. I prefer it not to happen in my match but I wasn’t p****d at the protesters. I know the stadium was because it just interrupted entertainment.

“I always speak about preaching about what you feel and what you believe in. It was done in a peaceful way, so I can’t get too mad at it. If that’s what they felt they needed to do to get their voices heard, I can’t really get upset at it.”

Now as a Grand Slam tennis champion, Gauff will have a bigger platform and an even louder voice. President Barack Obama, who watched her opening night win, tweeted: “Congratulations to US Open champion @CocoGauff! We couldn’t be prouder of you on and off the court – and we know the best is yet to come.”

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