INDIAN WELLS — Here’s some friendly advice for the starstruck: If you run into Coco Gauff somewhere, don’t be afraid to start a conversation.
She is the third-ranked player in the tennis world, she is the reigning U.S. Open champion, and she has been featured in Vogue and Time magazines in recent weeks. She will open play in the BNP Paribas Open here this weekend against the winner of Thursday morning’s match between Xiyu Wang of China and Clara Burel of France.
She is, in short, a Really Big Thing in the world that has descended this week on the desert, on the patch of land the promoters refer to as Tennis Paradise.
And Gauff was asked Wednesday about her comfort level with the fame and attention that have become part of her life. This was a little while after Carlos Alcaraz, the second-ranked men’s singles player in the world, was asked a similar question and said:
“Well, for me it’s good, most of the time. I think it’s normal. A lot of days, you wake up with not a good mood, and you want to hide or not be recognized (by) the people. But I try to take it as natural as I can. I like that the people know me and recognize me.”
And he hasn’t been staring out from the covers of any non-tennis magazines lately. Gauff is the cover subject of the April issue of Vogue. And she was included on Time’s “Women of the Year” list in its Feb. 21 issue, one of 12 individuals honored as “extraordinary leaders working toward a more equal world.”
“I don’t think one means more than the other for me, because it’s two aspects of my life that I really care about,” she said. “The world of fashion and beauty is something I’ve always cared for and cared about. And Time (focuses) more on the core issues of making the world a better place, which is also something I care about. So I guess to put it in that perspective, maybe Time is more influential because of the platform that Time has created to help uplift social activism and uplift causes that I deeply care about.
“So I don’t know. It’s hard to put one over the other, but being on the (Time) Women of the Year list is something I never expected. And neither was Vogue, so I don’t know.”
Asked if that made her famous, she said no.
“And I don’t think that will ever change because I just don’t feel famous,” she said. “At the Time gala event (Tuesday) night. I walked into that room and I just don’t feel – I feel like a regular person. People approached me and I don’t know, I feel like they think I’m some extraordinary (person), and I’m not.
“I’m just a tennis player and a person that really tries to uplift the people around her. And so many people in the world do that. Not just famous people, also just regular humans in their community. So I don’t think that makes me any different.”
On the court, Gauff – who was a phenom when she played her first pro tournament in October 2018 at the age of 14 – is now justifying the expectations as she approaches her 20th birthday next Wednesday. She has won seven singles titles and just under $13 million in her career, and last September’s U.S. Open title, achieved with a three-set victory over Aryna Sabalenka, put her in the pantheon of Grand Slam winners just a couple of months after a first-round loss at Wimbledon that she called “the toughest loss of my career so far.”
Her approach suggests that she gets it.
“One moment, one bad moment doesn’t last long,” she said. “You lose a lot in this sport, but you can have one bad week and the next you can have an amazing week. So for me, it’s just getting over the losses, how to bounce back, and also trying to take the positives out of everything.
“You know, there are 100-something players in a draw and only one wins. But that doesn’t mean everybody in that draw was a failure.”
After winning the U.S. Open last September she said she quickly turned her sights to the Australian Open … only to lose at the end of January in straight sets to Sabalenka, who remains ranked No. 2 to her No. 3.
“I felt like it was a positive tournament even though it immediately kind of felt disappointing,” Gauff said. “But I think it was a step in the right direction.”
It’s all in the context. She’d won in New Zealand the week before the Australian began. In 2023, in contrast, “I started off not as well as I did this year, and I kind of let that define my year. So I don’t want to let a swing or a tournament define my year until this year is actually over.”
Did she need that Slam to validate her career?
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“To answer that question goes to my personal growth,” she said. “I think in the perfect world, if I was mature enough, then I would say, yeah, I would be okay walking away from the sport without winning a slam. But honestly, tennis is so much of my identity, which is something I’m trying to separate. … It was important, yes. But like also I have, like at least ten more years left in this game. So if I didn’t win, I have 10 more years to try to win one. So it was important in my place in the sport, but I’m not satisfied with stopping there. And I don’t feel like I’ve made the mark that I want to make yet.”
In the meantime, and getting back to the point made at the top of this column, there are those interactions with the public. She said she understands how someone could be starstruck. She’s been there.
“Usually (to a fan) I’ll just say, ‘I’m a person like you,’” she said. “But it’s kind of stupid because when I see people that I typically look up to, I’m the same way. Some people just want the picture and leave, and some people ask me a question. I don’t mind talking. … The only times I’m saying, ‘Oh, I have to go,’ is when I literally have to go to practice.”
So, fans, now you know.
jalexander@scng.com