Coco Gauff
I'm thankful for the platform that I have and I know how many people that it reaches. I'm aware of that. So I try to make sure I use it to speak out about issues that can maybe slightly change some things.Collection: Thankful
Always dream big, and don't let anyone limit your dreams because the possibilities are endless.Collection: Dreams
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.Collection: Politics
What I do on court is great, but what really matters is what happens off court, the people who you affect.Collection: Great
Mental health is invisible, but it's a very real issue.Collection: Health
Tennis spoke to me. I liked being alone on the court. I liked the idea of all the mistakes being on me.Collection: Alone
As long as you love yourself, who cares what anyone else thinks?
If you are choosing silence, you're choosing the side of the oppressor.
If you can think it, you can do it. If you can dream it, you can do it. Just keep working hard. It won't come easy and it will seem impossible but if you keep working hard it will definitely happen.
My message has always been 'dream big and aim higher.'
I have learned to not look so much at the results and tune out the outside pressures. It has taken a lot of work and I am still growing and learning how to do that, but focusing on the process, trying to relax as much as possible and just have fun has always produced some of my best tennis.
It's crazy what support can do. People believe in you when you don't believe in yourself. That can really change the way a match goes.
Obviously I believe in myself.
No matter how good or how bad my career is, I think I'm a great person, and that's a message to all young players.
Even the more you lose, the more you need to improve, I guess.
Everyone asks me how I stay calm on court and I think it's because I accepted who I am after overcoming low points in my life.
You know, I don't think I'm going to change the world. I'm not delusional, but I think it could change some people in the world.
When I got on tour and when I realized I could do well in doubles... Who wouldn't want to be No. 1 in anything?
I think your mind kind of controls everything. Your mind controls, you know, how your body feels and how your mood is.
With every match I win I seem to get more and more people following me, so that's good. And that means more and more awareness for subjects I care about.
Being close to Serena and close to Roger is really a plus for me and an advantage I have to take care of.
Obviously, there's always room for improvement.
Throughout my life, I was always the youngest to do things, which added hype that I didn't want. It added this pressure that I needed to do well fast.
Sometimes being a woman - a Black woman in the world - you kind of settle for less.
Serena Williams has always been my idol... and Venus. They are the reason why I wanted to pick up a tennis racket.
I don't really look at my cousins as cousins, more as friends, because I actually hang out with them.
I will never, ever, ever complain about fans in the crowd. Whether they're against me or for me, I just enjoy just hearing noise.
I'm fighting for the future of my future kids. I'm fighting for the future of my future grandchildren.
I realized I needed to start playing for myself and not other people.
There is going to be a time when I retire and all this, and I'm still going to be a human.
Your results, or your job, or how much money you make doesn't define you as a person.
Sometimes when you're around someone a lot, you're gonna get sick of them.
I can be stubborn, sometimes, but once I become open-minded, I think I do pick up on things quickly.
I dreamed of always playing Wimbledon and the other grand slams but I never dreamed of people actually recognizing me.
I hope that I inspire a lot of people.
I feel in doubles there's more pressure to return, just because there's another person at the net and you don't want them to peg your partner.
Schoolwork, I'm normally up late doing it just because, I don't know, I feel like my brain functions better at night when I'm doing school.
It's important for us to know that our worth isn't defined by how well we do in our sport.
Some days I want to look like I belong in a metal band, some days I want to look like I belong in a flower field.
I think that I feel like I've learned that I'm capable of making it far in slams.
That's really surprising and shocking, when your idol even knows you exist that's pretty crazy. Serena is at the highest level and always at the top of her game. So for her to say I'm at a different level is surreal.
In tennis, we are very deserving of equal pay.
I want to stand up for people who look like me and feel like they don't have a voice. And I'm lucky enough that some people in the world care about what I have to say. So I try to make sure that I say it and say in a correct way, or in a way that people understand.
One of the things I learned growing up, my grandmother she had lung cancer when I was younger, and now she's cancer free, but I just remember her never being too negative about it, and her always being positive.
I'm really rarely on Twitter or Instagram.
I learned how to play in front of a big crowd. I learned what it was like to be under pressure.
I really went from not being known to everybody wanting something.
When I play doubles, I start to return better in singles.
The U.S. Open was the first tournament I watched in person when I was 8 years old.
I love to go see 'The Lion King' on Broadway. It's my favorite thing ever.