Coco Gauff‘s tennis resume continues to grow after she claimed the French Open for the first time.
The 21-year-old recovered from losing the first set in blustery conditions to defeat Aryna Sabalenka 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 on Paris.
Gauff has shown on multiple occasions her ability to adapt and overcome tricky situations on court and she illustrated those qualities in Saturday’s French Open final.
After dropping to the ground with elation following Sabalenka’s 70th unforced error on match point, Gauff made her way to the box to celebrate with her mother Candi and father Corey, who made his way there after his daughter emerged victorious.
Coco Gauff’s father says whether he will return to her box for future matches
During her matches, Coco Gauff’s box consists of her coaches and mother Candi Gauff.
One significant person in her life is missing, and that is her father and former coach Corey Gauff.
The 53-year-old was previously watching his daughter’s matches from her box, but decided in 2023 to watch her compete from another area of the stadium due to his animated nature.
During an interview with Tennis Channel after Gauff’s French Open victory, father Corey was asked if he would return to Gauff’s box during her matches, and he is hopeful of that taking place in the future.
“I think I have more maturing to do to be able to get there. I’ve got to mature more as a parent to get back there,” he said.
“I think I will do that. God is not finished with me yet and I’m still working on myself. I hope to return to the box one day where I can just calmly watch and clap and enjoy the match.
“But it’s such a different feeling with tennis. It’s just in my nature to be very animated when I’m coaching and that doesn’t work in tennis and it doesn’t work with her [Coco.]”
What has Coco Gauff said about her dad’s reactions during her tennis matches?
During her run to the French Open title, Gauff told TNT Sports about her dad’s reactions when he decided to stop sitting in her box during matches.
“He has some reactions where if I look in the box I want positivity and I will see him go like this [head in hand] or [slap his thigh],” Gauff said.
“He does not mean it. So after Wimbledon I lost the first round [in 2023] and was like, ‘Okay dad, we both agreed that you shouldn’t sit in the box. We can go at it, because I just can’t deal with the reactions.’”
On Monday the Gauff family appeared on the TODAY Show where Corey revealed that he sometimes listens to music during his daughter’s matches to calm himself down.
“I might be listening to gospel music, hype music,” Gauff said. “Just trying to take my mind mentally off of the moment, ’cause then I get nervous and I feel like she might feel my nervousness.”
