Coco Gauff interacted with an online troll after her win at the 2024 China Open, and she recently explained why she chose to do so.
Tennis players and athletes, in general, can read many people's opinions about themselves online. Many are positive, but there are, of course, also many negative. Gauff knows that very well.
As a prodigy and an incredibly talented player who has been backed to follow in Serena Williams' footsteps, the expectations for her tennis career were set so high that it's nothing new for her to read about not meeting those expectations yet.
One of those comments came also after her win at the 2024 China Open, which was her second career WTA 1000 title. Following her triumph, Gauff was the first to hit out at some of those criticizing her online.
The American probably received plenty of comments claiming that she was winning only WTA 250 titles, despite already having one Grand Slam and one WTA 1000 title before her triumph in Beijing.
Following her win, she mocked those critics with a post that sarcastically stated, 'She wins only 250s.' One of her critics probably took it as another chance for critique, saying that Gauff had the mentality of a 5-year-old for hitting out at her haters.
The 20-year-old player responded to that comment directly, explaining how children have the best outlook on life. However, during her participation at the 2024 Wuhan Open, she was also asked about the interaction and why she chose to respond.
"You know, you could just stay silent. There's sometimes the ones that you respond back. For me, I'm never going to be, like, nasty to someone. You think it. But I believe that the energy you put into the world. I try to put in good energy."
"For me, I realize that you can never make everybody happy. There was a lot of comments on Twitter about, like, how I've only 250s. That's not true. I won a slam, I won a 1000, I won a 500. I won another one a couple days ago."
"I posted on my story, Here's another 250. Yeah, for me it's just like you'll never satisfy anybody. We ended up ending it on good terms. It wasn't like a feud. The person thought I was immature."
Explaining her approach, the 2023 US Open champion once again explained her 'mindset of a kid' that she recently adopted, and that led her to success. She only recently ended her teenage years, saying that she realized that she started losing her 'inner child.'
"Honestly, I approach almost every tournament in the mindset of me as a kid. How I approached Beijing, I was like I want to approach this how I would play tennis as a kid. Sometimes as I'm becoming more of an adult, I think I realize or lose my inner child in a way."
Still, Gauff tries to make the world a better place with her actions, and hitting out at haters in a nice way is part of this, trying to keep the child's outlook on life.
"The world can be harsh. I guess as a child, I didn't recognize how harsh it can be. Sometimes I try to go back into that mindset and realize at the end of the day this is my dream now, and it was my dream as a kid. If I don't want to do it for myself now, I can definitely do for myself then."
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