"I was happy to see her be that voice saying the unsaid things that athletes think" - Coco Gauff draws comparisons to figure skating golden talent Alysa Liu

With the Winter Olympics having come and gone, many talented sports figures have taken the limelight and risen to the opportunity on the world's stage. One of which was talented American figure skater Alysa Liu whose gold winning performance was met with much positive attention. At just 20-years-old, fellow young American talent Coco Gauff sees similarities in both her and Lui's achievements.

The two-time Grand Slam champion burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old at Wimbledon, making it all the way to the fourth round. She would win her first WTA title at that age, defeating Jelena Ostapenko in the Linz Open final before winning her first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2023, four years later after a meteoric rise.

She has since added the French Open to her decorated catalogue, with them two Grand Slam, the 2024 WTA Finals triumph and three WTA 1000 crowns all a part of the 11 singles titles collected at the astonishing age of just 21-years-old.

"I think her whole story was super inspiring," Gauff stated ahead of Indian Wells, touching on Liu's incredible story. The teenage sensation won the US women's champion at age 12, but retired four years later due to burnout. Another four years passes by and she is Olympic champion and one of the most popular and respected people in the sporting world at this current moment.

While their journeys were not completely the same, Gauff could relate to Lui's story. "I wouldn't say I have faced burnout, but there are times you're mentally just tired of it and you feel like you're doing stuff and you don't know why," she said. "So I definitely could relate to her whole story. I was happy to see her be that voice saying the unsaid things that athletes think but are maybe scared to say."

Liu was not the only women to come out of the Winter Olympic Games with the headlines surrounding her. Freestyle skier Eileen Gu also got a lot of media attention throughout the event, winning a gold and two silvers to assert her dominance in the sport. She is someone that Gauff knows to an extent, even meeting her in person.

"Eileen Gu is someone I follow on Instagram and we've interacted. I've never met her, but she speaks so well," Gauff commented. "Obviously she's super smart. I think she's one of those people you don't want your parents to find out about because she's so accomplished, and they're, like, 'What are you doing?' I could be Grand Slam winner. And my mom is, like, 'She graduated Stanford and did all this stuff.'"

While there were victors from the games, there were also losers. The iconic alpine skier Lindsey Von attempted to compete in the downhill competition with a torn ACL, but after a mistake ended up crashing and breaking her leg.

"It was unfortunate to see everything that went on with Lindsey [Vonn], but I think still for her to take that leap of faith was still inspiring," Gauff stated, seeing past the failure on the day and joining the millions to support what she had attempted to do.

Adding to that, Gauff got immersed into the world of Ice Hockey, excitingly following the progress of both the men's and women's American team who left Italy with a brace of golden triumphs. "There were a few stories that I followed. And obviously the hockey, women's and men's hockey was really cool to watch. I had never watched hockey before, but I was watching and I was excited. Maybe I'll get into it."