Coco Gauff enters the court in the middle of the day. The stadium is half full, if anything.
So far, it mostly handles its core business in just over an hour. A couple of television interviews follow his warm-up. Not many more than that. Sometimes only two or three journalists attend his press conferences. At night, she barely goes unnoticed as she wanders the streets of Melbourne on her way to dinner, whether or not she’s wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.
“Definitely more calm,” Gauff said the other day about his experience at this tournament compared to the last Grand Slam he played in and won at the US Open in New York in September.
Remember those nights when Gauff would kick off the night sessions with thrilling, thrilling wins? Three of his first four matches went to three sets. He twice lost the first set. The crowd of nearly 24,000 at Arthur Ashe Stadium exploded almost every time he won a point and led them to victory.
Coco Gauff has had less media scrutiny in Australia (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Then, whichever boldface tennis name was conducting the on-court interview would hand over the microphone and let Gauff rile up the crowd with her version of the “stay tuned for Novak Djokovic” message. Hundreds of players had participated in the tournament. She owned it from start to finish, the 19-year-old debutante came out like never before and celebrities sat on the court for her matches. Jimmy butler. The Obamas. Her name is on almost everyone’s lips on the grounds of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Four months later, life couldn’t be more different for Gauff in Melbourne, and not in the way one might predict. Sure, she’s on some billboards. She’s been like that for four years, ever since that great streak she got at Wimbledon when she was just 15 years old.
His game hasn’t changed much. He modified his serve slightly last month with the help of Andy Roddick, shortening the swing a bit and throwing the ball from a higher position, although it’s barely noticeable. “Maybe it’s a little abbreviated,” said Pam Shriver, who has been watching Gauff since her youth. “But there’s not much difference.”
Coco Gauff has modified her service (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The big change is that, while she is one of the sport’s biggest stars, Gauff is advancing to the quarterfinals virtually unnoticed, despite not losing a set and barely allowing her opponents to be competitive.
“She’s young but she has a lot of experience because she’s been here for a long time,” said Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, who has the difficult task of facing her in the round of 16 on Tuesday.
He’s replaced the neon tennis-ball yellow suit with a shade that’s more like the dull yellow of a traffic light. There are no hordes of Gen Z girls following her around and begging for selfies. Her doubles partner, Jessica Pegula, withdrew from that competition, so she doesn’t fill courts and smaller venues on her days off from singles.
His games, scheduled during prime time in the United States, end so quickly, with so little energy expended, that he does cardio exercises or hitting sessions once they are finished. With so little tension during games, there are almost no exchanges with his coach, Brad Gilbert, which is rather a miracle given that, well, let’s just say it takes a lot to keep Gilbert quiet.
Then come media obligations and then, mid-afternoon, Gauff is trying to figure out how to fill the rest of her day.
“Go to the movies, I don’t know, read a book or something like that,” she said on Sunday, a couple of hours after beating Poland’s Magdalena Frech, 6-1, 6-2 in 63 minutes. “It’s only 3 in the afternoon. “It’s definitely a strange feeling.”
Saw poor things last week. She was scheduled to watch The Iron Claw, a biopic about professional wrestler Kevin Von Erich, on Sunday night.
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There are some very logical explanations for this dynamic.
Gauff has had a huge impact at all the other Grand Slams. She had the Brits since that first victory over Venus Williams on Center Court at Wimbledon when she was 15. Very dangerous on clay, she was a finalist at the French Open in 2022. The US Open has been a happy place since she reached the final of the women’s tournament when she was 13 years old.
As a professional, the Australian Open is the only Grand Slam in which Gauff has never played a major role. It is the first time that he has reached the quarterfinals in singles and the Australians spend the first part of the tournament obsessed with their afternoons and evenings, while they continue competing. She plays while the crowd is still arriving at Melbourne Park, so her matches take place on American night, which makes ESPN very happy.
Fans still care for Coco Gauff in Melbourne (Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images)
The fans here know her, like her and root for her. There are scattered shouts of “Come on Coco,” in quiet moments between points. She received the biggest compliment Sunday when Rod Laver took her front-row seat at the arena that bears her name just before she served at 4-1. She thanked him for coming later and told him it was an honor to play in front of him.
But she’s still not a “thing” here, so to speak, which makes for a quiet few days. It’s not that she’s complaining.
Gauff and her team have always encouraged her to take advantage of her free time. They turn down dozens of sponsorship offers to minimize their obligations and keep their minds clear. Focus on tennis and the money and opportunities will be there.
“Playing the long game,” his agent, Alessandro Barel Di Sant Albano of Team8, the agency Roger Federer co-launched, reiterated on Sunday.
Gauff has taken that approach on the court. She pays special attention to 30 points when her opponent is serving, even if she already has a break of serve, looking to shorten matches whenever she can, not just for this tournament, but for years to come.
“YO“I’m 19 now, but I won’t always be able to recover as quickly physically or mentally,” Gauff said Sunday.
Still, being a prodigy can have its risks.
Gauff said she put enormous pressure on herself to win a Grand Slam as a teenager since her Wimbledon breakthrough in 2019. Last summer, with less than a year to go, she lost in the first round of Wimbledon to Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian. Open champion. She is no shame, but she took it very badly.
“It sucked,” Gauff said. But, he added, “the world did not end. The sun still shines. I still have my friends and family. I realized that losing is not that bad and that I should focus on the battle and the process and enjoy it. When it’s 5-5 in the third set, enjoy that battle instead of thinking, ‘What if I lose?’”
Rod Laver watches Coco Gauff in action on Sunday (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
With only one Grand Slam left in 2023, he thought it was time to start planning for 2024. He wanted to hire a big-name coach. Gilbert was interested. He joined her team in mid-summer, an “OG,” as she calls him (“original gangster”), with strange tastes in music (Tom Petty) and candy (Jolly Ranchers).
Gilbert helped her focus on her strengths—her backhand, powerful serve, unmatched court coverage, and stamina—rather than her weakness, which was her forehand. He helped her learn to hide it, giving it more shape and depth, expanding points and turning matches into athletics competitions, something in which she has excelled since she was a child.
Six weeks later, he won his first Grand Slam, six months before his 20th birthday.
Now she is the one who feels like the veteran and the “OG”
“I’m looking at the other girls on the tour who are 16 and now about to turn,” she said Sunday. “They feel so young and I feel so old.”
Then he stopped himself.
“I know,” he said. “I’m not that old.”
(Top photo: Martin Keep/AFP via Getty Images)
