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Tennis News –
Coco Gauff: "I'm a human first before I'm a tennis player. My parents support me when I speak out" The American talked to the press following her 6-3, 6-1 win over Martina Trevisan at Roland Garros On her tennis in a semi-final match "Today I think I played probably the best I could. Today in the moment, you know, I think we were both kind of shaky in the first couple games, had a lot of early unforced errors, but after that, it was smooth sailing from there". On her “Peace End Gun Violence” message on the lens of an on-court camera "For me, it's important [to speak out], just as a person in the world, regardless of tennis player or not. I think for me it was just especially important just being in Europe and being where I know people globally around the world are for sure watching. Especially in America it's a problem that's, frankly, been happening over some years but obviously now it's getting more attention. But for me it's been an issue for years. For me, it's kind of close to home. I had some friends that were a part of the Parkland shooting back in -- I don't remember which year. I remember watching that whole experience like pretty much firsthand, seeing and having friends go through that whole experience. Luckily they were able to make it out of it. I just think it's crazy, I think I was maybe 14 or 13 when that happened, and still nothing has changed. I think that was just a message for the people back at home to watch and for people who are all around the world to watch. Hopefully it gets into the heads of people in office to hopefully change things. I really didn't know what I was going to write even moments walking to the camera, and it just felt right in that moment and to write that. I woke up this morning, you know, and I saw there was another shooting, and I think it's just crazy. I definitely think there needs to be some reform put into place. I think now especially being 18 I've really been trying to educate myself around certain situations, because now I have the right to vote and I want to use that wisely". On talking about different issues and using her platform to speak out "My team around me knows that if I want to say something, I'm going to say it. But particularly if I do say something, most of the time I put a lot of thought into what I'm going to say and how I'm going to say it. If anything, my team and my parents encourage me to write that. Since I was younger -- I know I said this before -- that my dad told me I could change the world with my racquet. He didn't mean that by like just playing tennis. He meant speaking out on issues like this. The first thing my dad said to me after I got off court, I'm proud of you and I love what you wrote on the camera. I think my parents support me when talking about issues like this. I think now athletes are more fine with speaking out about stuff like this. I feel like a lot of times we're put in a box that people always say, Oh, sports and politics should stay separate and all this. And I say yes, but also at the same time I'm a human first before I'm a tennis player. If I'm interested in this, I wouldn't even consider gun violence politics; I think that's just life in general. I don't think that's political at all. But just in general, I think that I'm a human first. So of course I'm going to care about these issues and speak out about these issues. When people make those comments, I'm not going to be an athlete forever. There is going to be a time when I retire and all this, and I'm still going to be a human. So of course I care about these topics. I think if anything, sports gives you the platform to maybe make that message reach more people". On her mindset and having some perspective "At some point I felt like I’ve put myself in a bubble to the point where it was like tennis, tennis, tennis, tennis. I realized, really talking to my family in general, my grandmother, she's always like, There's more to life than this. You just need to relax when you're out there. I always brushed it over, like, You can't relax in these situations. Now I look at it, I'm like, You're right, I can relax in these situations. It's just a tennis match. It's not the end of the world. There's so many people going through so many like uncomfortable situations. For me to be -- I mean, obviously being nervous is natural -- but for me to think that winning a tennis match or losing a tennis match is the end of the world, I think just kind of shows what kind of privilege I have. So I just took a step back and said, You know, this is just a tennis match. Whatever happens, it happens. I think that's probably helped me being in that mindset". On her upcoming match against Iga Swiatek "Iga is on a streak right now obviously, and I think going in I have nothing to lose and she's definitely the favorite going into the match on paper. But I think that going in, I'm just going to play free and play my best tennis. I think in a Grand Slam final anything can happen. I think, I should definitely capitalize on the opportunities I'm given. She's not going to give you much opportunities. Watching her play, I think she does a great job of like changing direction and like hitting angles off the court, and hitting winners, she's always hitting winners. But I think going into the match I'm going to try to be aggressive at the right moments and patient at the right moments. I played her in Miami, and I think sometimes I made some unforced errors in some unnecessary times. I think I'm going to focus on trying not to do that as much. I knew Iga from juniors, but we never spoke really until we both got on tour. I remember here specifically I was actually preparing to play her kind of in the final, and then she had a match point against Caty McNally, and Caty saved a match point against her and I ended up playing Caty in the final. Iga is super nice. I think that's something I really admire about her. I have known her since she was probably ranked lower, and now that' she's No. 1, and I will say that, nothing has really changed other than her tennis. But behind the scenes, she's as nice as I think you guys see in the press conferences. I think that's really important and rare to see, so I definitely congratulate her on that aspect. I'm really happy to play her specifically, because I always wanted to play her in a final, and I knew it was going to happen eventually just from the way our games were both projecting. I just didn't think it would happen so soon". Website BTU - Ukrainian Tennis - joins the fundraising to help internally displaced persons in Dnipropetrovsk Region
You can support those, who have been forced to flee their homes due to the Russian military aggression, with a donation via PayPal? Источник: btu.org.ua |
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