Coco Gauff, the Grand Slam winner, exemplified both perfectionism and style on the cover of Vogue’s April issue. Gauff, 19, won her first major title at the US Open in September, defeating Aryna Sabalenka in a thrilling match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Six months later, she’s stepping into the limelight like tennis icon Serena Williams, gracing the cover of the renowned fashion magazine, according to the Daily Mail. On the verge of turning 20, rising tennis sensation Gauff was photographed by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, who is best known for her iconic photos of dignitaries such as Queen Elizabeth II.
Gauff, dressed in a $5,690 Michael Kors gown, spoke about her recent Grand Slam success, dealing with pressure, and admiring the Williams sisters in an interview with the journal.
The teenage athlete, dressed in a dazzling gold Dior attire, compared her thrilling US Open victory to an obsessive quest that she intends to pursue throughout her career.
“That was a feeling I’ll never be able to replicate no matter how many more matches I win,” she told Vogue. “I want to win more so I can get as close to the feeling.
“I told my mom—I literally said, ‘It was an addictive feeling.’ As soon as I felt that, I wanted to refeel it again. I said, ‘Now I see how people get addicted to drugs.’ That feeling was a drug. For the rest of my life, the rest of my career, I’m going to be chasing that high.”
Gauff’s defeat of Venus Williams in the first round at Wimbledon (her first grand slam match) made her an instant global star.
“When I walked on the court, I put the music really loud in my ears because I didn’t want to look at, or hear, the crowd,” Gauff recalled of the match against the five-time champion in 2019. “A lot of times during that match I didn’t even look at the scoreboard because I didn’t want to see her name.”
The fast-rising tennis expressed her regret for not being able to play Serena Williams before her retirement in 2022. “If I had the perfect world I would have gotten to play both. But Serena retired and I played Venus twice. In my perfect world I would have played Venus once and Serena once,” she said.
But Gauff said she was happy she never got the chance to face Serena Williams because she wasn’t sure how she would have handled herself.
“Playing Serena at Wimbledon, I don’t know, I feel like it would have messed up my story,” she said. “I wasn’t ready for Serena at that time.”
Gauff’s journey to her first Grand Slam victory involved overcoming perfectionism, a trait ingrained since her early school days, as revealed by her mother.
“It’s a great thing and also a bad thing,” Gauff explained. “It’s not like I’m saying, ‘Good job, Coco.’ It’s like, ‘Okay, why didn’t you do that sooner?”
“I’m trying to do more of, you know, accepting the good shots,” Gauff said, “and giving myself as much of a compliment as I do a critique.”
The tennis star hinted she was involved in a romantic relationship without disclosing her boyfriend’s identity. Describing him as a “very nice guy” who is currently a student, aspiring for music school and pursuing acting, she also revealed he plays the guitar and hails from Atlanta, not Delray.
“And actually, um, I will say this: People on Twitter found him two or three days ago. I won’t respond and confirm if it’s him or not, but they caught me in the comments, so they know.
“Some people thought it was someone in tennis and that couldn’t be further from the truth.”