If you hear his story, you can see that a lot of his tennis he learned just from watching, he didn't have a coach" - Gauff on Tiafoe's difficult path to tennis stardom

Friday, 21 October 2022 at 01:00

American tennis star Coco Gauff agrees with the popular opinion that tennis still has a very high barrier for entry, preventing players from lesser developed countries from getting into the sport.

The teenager considers herself fortunate to hail from a country like the United States and to have parents who are financially stable enough to help with her training and travel.

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At the same time, Gauff pointed out that it still remains a very expensive sport to pursue, making it inaccessible to large parts of the population across the globe. Speaking at her press conference after defeating Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the second round of the WTA1000 event in Guadalajara, the American touched on the inequalities prevailing in tennis, a tangent she arrived at when discussing the relative lack of Latina players in the sport.

"Regarding the training, it's definitely a problem in tennis. It's very expensive. I'm very fortunate that my parents were able," Gauff said. "And I live in a country, U.S., and I'm able to afford, but that's not the case for everyone."

However, Gauff did not see it as a reason to give up on one's dreams, using the example of compatriot Frances Tiafoe to show how one can rise above one's circumstances.

"But I would say the biggest example that I would give to that is Frances Tiafoe. If you hear his story, you can see that a lot of his tennis he learned just from watching," Gauff said. "He didn't have a coach. He was staying at the site of his tournament."

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Recalling how Tiafoe did not even have a proper coach at the start of his career, the World No. 7 hoped prospective players would look at his career trajectory and see that they too can do it if they put their mind to it.

"So I think players like him definitely just make you feel like anyone can do it. So I think you should look more so to him because he definitely is a good representation of that: no matter where you come from, you can do it," Gauff said. "So I think if Frances Tiafoe can do it, then anyone can do it. Love the guy. But he is definitely a goofball (laughing). If he can do it, then you can do it."

Arthur Ajayi

Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.

As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.

With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.

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