23
At Wimbledon, Hercog remarked that Gauff
is “probably older in her head than the num-
bers show.” Gauff agrees with that assessment,
tennis- wise. “Off the court,” she says, “I don’t
feel mature.” In other words, she feels 15. She still
plays hide-and-seek in the house with her broth-
ers Cody, 11, and Cameron, 6; Cody accidentally
broke her Junior Fed Cup trophy during one game.
When their mom tells them to stop throwing stuff
around, they often ignore her. “We’ll do anything,”
Gauff says, “just to make my parents mad.”
Gauff says she’s never been on a date. “But I
help my friends a lot,” she says. “I’m more a wing-
woman.” She plans to get her learner’s permit
after the Open but has no plans to start staying
out late, since tennis wears her out enough. “The
only reason I want my license,” she says, “is to go
to Chick-fil-A.” She doesn’t feel like she’s missing
adolescent milestones as she travels the world for
tennis. “I want to go to prom and all of that, but I
definitely can make time to have that,” says Gauff.
Plus, she notes, her friends “don’t really enjoy
the high school experience.” That may just be
typical teen chatter, but it appears to help spare
Gauff any regrets.
For now, Gauff ’s all about the game. She’s
spent the weeks before the U.S. Open adding
more depth to her shots. Parents are often cau-
tioned against setting unrealistic goals for kids, to
prevent disappointment. But for years Corey has
told his daughter she can be the “GOAT”: great-
est of all time. “When you’re young, you just be-
lieve anything,” says Gauff. “When I got older, I
really believed it for an actual reason, instead of
just believing ’cause my dad told me.” So she’s
comfortable declaring her intentions. “A lot of
people maybe think of it as cocky,” she says. “But
I think it’s just confidence. I think I can beat any-
one on the court.”
Gauff speaks with conviction, but she’s not
brash. She won’t, for example, predict that she’ll
pass Serena’s 23 Grand Slam wins. “But I know I
can do it,” Gauff says. Lunch ends; as she leaves the
restaurant, the maître d’ and a cook pop out to take
a picture with her. Welcome to Coco Gauff ’s new
normal. Which has only just begun.
‘I learned
that I’m
capable
of a lot
of things.
I learned
to fight.’
COCO GAUFF,
describing
lessons from
Wimbledon,
where she
advanced to the
fourth round
JANE STOCKDALE—THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX
