Phenom

HOW DID COCO GAUFF GET SO GOOD SO FAST?

- Stephen Tignor

It was Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day at the 2019 US Open, and the hundreds of noisy young New Yorkers who had gathered in Louis Armstrong Stadium watched intently as a girl not much older than they were, 15-year-old Coco Gauff, walked on court with a smile and a wave.

Three girls darted down to the front row and leaned as far into the playing area as they could; they seemed most impressed by Gauff’s immaculate green nail polish. Other children stood, cradling oversize tennis balls, and waited patiently for an autograph. Some beat the plastic Thunderstix that were handed out for the festivities. Others called out “Co-co!” Some waved in her direction as if she were an old friend. But when Gauff eased her long limbs to the left side of the court and blistered a backhand down the line, everyone in the arena—child and parent alike—made the same sound at once: “Ooooohhhh!!!”

That awed roar was a good summation of Gauff’s summer as a whole. It was a wow from start to finish; or, as Coco might say, it was “amazing” and “super shocking.”

In June, the Atlanta native and Florida resident was a promising junior; by Labor Day, she was the future of American tennis, and she had leapt to the top of the sports-marketing heap. Team 8, Roger Federer’s agency, represented her. New Balance rolled out an ad campaign, “Call Me Coco,” and designed a striking dress for her to wear at the US Open. Teen Vogue featured her on its cover. Michelle Obama hung out with her. Even Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson, professed herself a Coco fan on Instagram.

“I was, like, screaming,” Gauff said about that social-media shout-out. “…I hope she told her daughter about me.”