Coco Gauff immediately regretted oversharing wardrobe details in her Australian Open interview.
Tennis fans want to know the burning information—like how Coco Gauff used the bathroom in an outfit.
Yes. People really want to know that. Here’s why.
Coco is an avid Marvel fan, so many of her outfits are inspired by the superheroes in the movies and shows. That means you’re likely to see her wearing some outfits with cutouts and funky designs that you don’t typically see most tennis players wear.
Well, people got really curious. They wanted to know all the things. Do you have multiple colors? Is that outfit comfortable? HOW DO YOU USE THE BATHROOM IN THAT THING?
Then she had to explain herself during an Australian open postgame interview, and the results were so funny.
“A lot of people were wondering how I use the bathroom in it,” Coco explained.
“So, I did post a video on my Instagram story stories. Not like actually demonstrating, but, like, just get the idea … Okay, that was TMI. Sorry, guys! I don’t know when to shut up.”
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks for reading today. Here’s your morning medal count as of 9:00 a.m. ET.
— United States: 20 (3 gold, 8 silver, 9 bronze)
— France: 16 (5 gold, 8 silver, 3 bronze)
— Japan: 12 (6 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze)
— China: 12 (5 gold, 5 silver, 2 bronze)
— Korea: 10 (5 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)
Coco Gauff deserves better
The story of Coco Gauff’s loss in straight sets (7-6, 6-2) to Donna Vekić won’t be about the loss.
Instead, it’ll be about the argument between Gauff and yet another chair umpire after an erroneous call completely derailed what felt like might be a classic.
With the second set at 2-3 and Vekić playing for a breakpoint, Gauff served the ball into Vekić’s forehand. Gauff prepared to hit a return but the line judge called the ball out as she swung. She seemed to pull up after the call and sent the ball into the net.
The umpire correctly overruled the line judge and ruled the ball in. But the judge also ruled that Gauff lost the point, which gave Vekić the break she needed to push the match to 4-2.
That’s what caused Gauff’s teary-eyed reaction. She felt cheated and it’s hard to blame her.
A call was made and Gauff reacted to it. The call was wrong, yes, but it disrupted play. The obvious solution was to replay the point, but instead, we got a heated argument between Gauff and the chair umpire that looked completely embarrassing for the sport.
This isn’t the first time this has happened to Gauff. Just over a month ago at the French Open essentially the same thing happened in Gauff’s match against Iga Swiatek. Back then, Gauff argued that tennis needs a replay system to prevent things like this from happening. She’s arguing it again here and, honestly, she may be right. For these errors to continue to mar the sport repeatedly isn’t the greatest look.
You know what also isn’t the greatest look? Gauff’s reaction here. Don’t get me wrong. Understandably, she’s upset about what keeps happening to her. Anyone would be.
There’s nothing wrong with being an emotional player. We’ve seen plenty come through the sport and thrive. John McEnroe is the obvious one that comes to mind. Serena Williams got fiery at times on the court, too. But they were able to use that emotion and that fire to thrive.
Today, it seemed, Gauff’s emotions were a bit of a hindrance. That’s Ok. Gauff is young. She’ll learn and get better from this.
Let’s hope Roland Garros learns, too, and doesn’t continuously allow things to go this far.
Katie Ledecky is still better than everyone else
Here’s our daily word from Michelle Martinelli, who has boots on the ground in Paris for the Games. Today’s subject is the unmatched brilliance of Katie Ledecky. The longer she goes, the better she is.
NANTERRE, France — Bonjour, les gagnants! On Day 4 of swimming at the Paris Olympics, Katie Ledecky is doing Katie Ledecky things, like crushing her 1,500-meter freestyle competition in her typically dominant fashion.
The longer the race, the better Ledecky is, and the 1,500 is her best event — and one that was FINALLY added to the Olympic lineup at the 2021 Tokyo Games. (It took decades, but organizers finally corrected the absurdly antiquated and sexist thinking that limited the longest Olympic women’s event to the 800 when men could swim the 1,500.)
The world record holder, Ledecky was the first women’s 1,500 Olympic champion in Tokyo, setting the Olympic record by default. And after her prelims swim Tuesday, she certainly looks like she’ll have no trouble defending her Olympic gold.
Ledecky qualified first while fellow American Katie Grimes didn’t make the top-8 final, set for Wednesday afternoon Eastern time.
On a personal note, as a kid watching Olympic swimming, I remember being confused about why women couldn’t swim the 1,500 when 10-year-old me could. So to finally see the event in Tokyo on TV and then in person Tuesday in Paris was really something special.
This was my view of Ledecky cruising to the finish in prelims:
The 10-year-old inside me is crying.
— Michelle Martinelli
Don’t forget: The MLB trade deadline is today
Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Olympic buzz has overtaken just about everything. But this might be a pretty important day for your favorite baseball team.
We’ve already seen a bit of movement so far. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a Yankee. Randy Arozarena is a Mariner. There’s plenty more to come with so many teams thinking they have a legitimate shot at winning down the stretch of the season. So many contending teams still have holes to fill.
If you need to play a little catchup, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.
Coco Gauff cherished the opportunity to be the United States’ flag bearer along with LeBron James at the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
On Friday, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime experience when he was a flag bearer for the United States during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics. But he wasn’t the only one who got to do the honors.
While James was the United States’ male flag bearer, tennis player Coco Gauff was its female flag bearer. In doing so, she was the first tennis player and the youngest athlete to bear Old Glory during an Olympic opening ceremony.
She said she cherished the opportunity to hold the flag along with James out in Paris to commemorate the start of this year’s Olympics.
It means a lot for Coco Gauff to be the U.S. flag bearer along with LeBron James. 🫡
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 27, 2024
“It means a lot to be here representing Team USA and be with the GOAT here, Mr. LeBron James,” said Gauff. “It means a lot, I’m so excited and I can’t wait to do well in the games.”
James and Team USA basketball will start competing for the gold medal on Sunday when they take on Nikola Jokić and Serbia in group play.
This is a memory for Coco Gauff that will last a lifetime.
U.S. women’s tennis star Coco Gauff shared a memory that will last forever before the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Gauff, who was chosen alongside men’s basketball star LeBron James as one of the flag bearers for Team USA, took a once-in-a-lifetime selfie with all of the basketball athletes and tennis athletes before the opening ceremony.
There is an absolutely wild amount of star power and talent represented from both the parquet and clay courts in this one photograph. Many may come home to the United States with new gold medals to showcase for all of their hard work:
Imagine making a last-minute decision to play and walking away with a championship.
With her new No.2 world ranking in sight, Coco Gauff didn’t let a tough loss in the French Open singles tournament dim her light. She just decided to casually go out and win the doubles tournament with Katerina Siniakova — a choice she made just TWO DAYS prior to the event.
Coco Gauff continues to be one of the most impressive players in all of tennis, and her latest feat proved why she is simply one of the best. Coco did not have the greatest end to her run on the singles side of the French Open. She made the final four but lost a heartbreaker to Iga Swiatek in straight sets. Nevertheless, she still had her doubles tournament to look forward to.
Coco not only made it to the championship, but she and Katerina Siniakova won the whole thing. The best part might not even have been their tournament run, which was incredibly impressive. Gauff revealed that she had no plans to play in the doubles tournament. Two days prior to play, she decided to give it a go with Katerina. WOW.
Here’s what Coco told the French Open crowd post-match:
“First, thank you, Katerina, for playing with me.We decided…two days before the tournament started to play together. It was very last minute. I wasn’t planning on playing doubles. So, thank you for asking me to play.”
Coco Gauff is dancing her way to the final four at the 2024 French Open, and it’s one of the most wholesome things you’ll see all day.
Coco has been cruising, taking down opponents with relative ease. But on Monday, the No. 8 ranked player in the world, Ons Jabeur, gave Coco a challenging task. Ons came out in the first set, clicking on all cylinders and was up 2-1 in the second set before the 20-year-old staged a furious comeback to win the match.
The win catapulted Guaff into the final four players at the French Open. It made her the youngest player since Maria Sharapova to reach three or more consecutive women’s Grand Slam semi-finals. To celebrate, she continued the tradition of players dancing at the venue after they’ve won with the most wholesome video.
Iga Swiatek really outdid herself during Sunday’s French open match.
When you’re the world No. 1 like Iga Swiatek, it can seem like there’s nothing all that notable to accomplish. Even when you make incredible comebacks, the expectation was that you were supposed to win in the first place anyway.
But Sunday’s fourth-round 2024 French Open win was a marvel even for the best women’s tennis player in the world.
In defeating Russia’s Anastasia Potapova, Swiatek really flexed her muscles. The 23-year-old Polish star won the match 6-0, 6-0 in 40 minutes (!) and lost just a total of 10 points to advance to the quarterfinals. It was the shortest match of her already illustrious career by far.
That is absolutely astonishing, especially at this level of world-class tennis.
Iga Swiatek after beating Potapova 6-0 6-0 in 40 minutes to reach Roland Garros QF:
“I was just really focused and really in the zone.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) June 2, 2024
Swiatek’s performance was so dominant that it even shocked Coco Gauff, the current world No. 3. Gauff — who also advanced to the quarterfinals — had expected Swiatek to quickly dispatch her opponent. But not that fast!
You know you’re doing something right when you’re even taking aback your elite peers with your play. It’s worth noting that should Swiatek and Gauff both advance again, they can meet in the quarterfinals next Thursday.
As for Swiatek, the Polish star is pursuing rare air. With another French Open title, the two-time reigning champion would become the youngest woman in the professional era to win four French Open singles titles. Swiatek is an astounding 32-2 Roland-Garros since her debut at the tournament in 2019.
Los Angeles Sparks rookie Cameron Brink is in a new ad for New Balance with six other sports stars, including Shohei Ohtani and Coco Gauff, and it’s fantastic.
Cameron Brink, who the Sparks drafted at No. 2 overall on Monday, is having one heck of a week. Brink, who’s had a NIL deal — now likely turned endorsement — with New Balance since 2023, is in an epic ad with several sports giants.
As part of New Balance’s “We Got Now” campaign, the company recently released another commercial with Brink in it. I have to say, the list of athletes she’s with is super impressive. This is my kind of carrying-on.
“You only gotta be better than the lady on the other side of the net. That’s it.”
Coco Gauff is one of the most prominent young stars in tennis, and it’s fantastic to see her growth. However, one thing could keep her from reaching superstardom — Coco is a closet perfectionist.
Tennis takes Coco Gauff to the highest of highs (beating Aryana Sabalenka) and lowest of lows (losing to Aryana Sabalenka four months later). Still, through it all, one thing remains constant. It isn’t Coco’s game. It’s not even the type of tennis racket she uses. It’s her kryptonite — perfectionism.
Per Abby Aguirre of Vogue Magazine, Coco has been working to subdue her need to be perfect, even when she wins, saying, “I’ve always known I was a perfectionist…It’s not like I’m saying, ‘Good job, Coco.’ It’s like, ‘Okay, why didn’t you do that sooner?'”
The euphoria @CocoGauff felt winning championship point at last year’s US Open—a moment that brought all of Arthur Ashe to its feet—is still indescribable. “For the rest of my life, the rest of my career,” she says, “I’m going to be chasing that high.” https://t.co/dkc6uTfnC2pic.twitter.com/OBxCmIcrKB
Candi Gauff, Coco’s mom, shared with Vogue that Coco’s perfectionism started young, and not even spelling competitions were safe. If CoCo missed one word, she wouldn’t let it go. That drive — that will be absolutely perfect — has pushed Coco into tennis royalty conversations, much like her idols Venus and Serena Williams.
Still, her new coach, ESPN commentator Brad Gilbert, who famously coached another perfectionist, Andre Agassi, wants her to remember one thing:
“I told her, ‘The pursuit of perfection doesn’t exist. It makes you miserable, chasing it. And you’re never satisfied with being good.’ She’s just always gotta be better. Andre was the same. And it’s like, ‘You only gotta be better than the lady on the other side of the net.’ That’s it. This whole being-better-than-you-need-to-be costs you a lot of matches.”
It’s hard when you’re in the moment to realize just how far you’ve come. A little grace goes a long way.
Coco Gauff is a generational talent, but even she has to remember to give herself grace.
After a gritty win against Aryna Sabalenka in the 2023 U.S. Open final that ended with Sabalenka beating her tennis racket into the floor, Coco Gauff has been on a meteoric rise. Her talents landed her at the Australian Open, where she played in the semifinals against Sabalenka again.
This time, however, she didn’t have enough to overcome her familiar opponent. Gauff seemingly ran out of gas after a valiant but stressful win over Marta Kostyuk just days ago. When she took time to reflect upon her loss, she was particularly hard on herself.
Yet, her career, which includes a Grand Slam, seven singles titles and eight doubles titles — all before reaching her 20s — shows she has to be gentle with herself. Coco is more than just a moment. She’s given tennis fans and herself quite the journey, and there is more still to come.
Coco Gauff reflects on playing her last Grand Slam as a teenager & says she’s proud of herself:
“I tend to be hard on myself, so I feel like today I was, like, dang, but I think looking back of, like, overall this stage of my life, like, it was obviously a successful time. I saw… pic.twitter.com/3SlXsHZtmF
pic.twitter.com/S0rHlXe7b6
