Coco Gauff

Cori Dionne "Coco" Gauff (born March 13, 2004) is an American professional tennis player.

She has won seven WTA Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2023 US Open, and eight doubles titles.

Gauff has career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and of world No. 1 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA).

Gauff was born on March 13, 2004, to Candi (Odom) and Corey Gauff, both from Delray Beach, Florida.

She has two younger brothers.

Her father played college basketball at Georgia State University and later worked as a health care executive.

Her mother was a track and field athlete at Florida State University and worked as an educator.

Gauff lived her early years in Atlanta.

She began playing tennis at the age of six.

When she was seven, her family moved back to Delray Beach to have better training opportunities.

She worked with Gerard Loglo at the New Generation Tennis Academy starting from the age of eight.

Gauff recalled, "I wasn't much of a team person. I loved tennis. I was so-so about it in the beginning because when I was younger I didn't want to practice at all. I just wanted to play with my friends. When I turned eight, that was when I played 'Little Mo' and after that I decided to do that for the rest of my life."

Gauff's parents gave up their careers to focus on training their daughter.

Her father later became her primary coach, while her mother oversaw her homeschooling.

Her father had limited experience playing tennis growing up.

At the age of 10, Gauff began to train at the Mouratoglou Academy in France run by Patrick Mouratoglou, longtime coach of Serena Williams.

Mouratoglou commented, "I'll always remember the first time I saw Coco. She came over to the Mouratoglou Academy in 2014 to try out and she impressed me with her determination, athleticism and fighting spirit.... When she looks at you and tells you she will be number one, you can only believe it."

He helped sponsor Gauff through his Champ'Seed foundation, which he created to provide funding for talented juniors who did not have the financial resources to afford high-level training.

Gauff won the USTA Clay Court National 12-and-under title at the age of 10 years and three months – to become the youngest champion in the tournament's history.

Gauff is a former world No. 1 junior.

She entered the prestigious Les Petits As 14-and-under tournament in 2016 at age 12 and made it to the semifinals.

Gauff began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit at the age of 13, skipping directly to the highest-level Grade A and Grade 1 tournaments.

She finished runner-up to Jaimee Fourlis in her third career event, the Grade 1 Prince George's County Junior Tennis Championships in Maryland.

At her next event, Gauff made her junior Grand Slam debut at the 2017 US Open and finished runner-up to Amanda Anisimova.

Gauff did not drop a set before the final in either tournament.

She became the youngest girls' singles finalist in US Open history.

After beginning 2018 with a semifinal at the Grade 1 Traralgon Junior International in Australia, Gauff lost her opening round match at the Australian Open.

She did not enter another tournament in singles until the French, where she won her first career junior Grand Slam tournament title.

She did not drop a set until the final, where she came from behind to defeat McNally in three sets.

With the title, Gauff became the fifth youngest girls' singles champion in French Open history.

A month later, following another final win against McNally at the Grade 1 Junior International Roehampton, she became the No. 1 junior in the world.

Gauff reached the quarterfinals in singles at the final two Grand Slam tournaments of the year.

She fared better in doubles at both tournaments, reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon with partner María Lourdes Carlé and winning her first junior Grand Slam doubles title at the US Open with McNally.

Gauff and McNally defeated compatriots Hailey Baptiste and Dalayna Hewitt in the final, all in straight sets.

Gauff made her WTA Tour debut in March 2019 at the Miami Open.

She received a wild card into the qualifying draw at the 2019 Wimbledon, where she became the youngest player in the tournament's history to qualify for the main draw.

There, she won over Venus Williams and reached the fourth round.

Gauff won her first WTA Tour singles title at the 2019 Linz Open.

She reached her first major final in women's doubles at the 2021 US Open, and reached her first major singles final at the 2022 French Open.

In 2023, Gauff won her first WTA 1000 title at the Cincinnati Masters and her first major singles title at the US Open.