Coco Gauff is returning to the Middle East for the third year in a row, and it is a very special time of the year being in this part of the globe.
The American spoke during her pre-tournament press conference at the Qatar Open on many subjects, including her start of the season, her training so far, and her life after tennis.
One of the interesting topics that stood out was certainly her ability to resonate with fans and fellow pros. Although Gauff is relatively young (she turns 20 next month), she broke through at the of 15 when she qualified for Wimbledon and stunned Venus Williams on her main draw debut.
As Gauff winds up the teenage years of her life, she has peaked at a career-high ranking of World No. 3 and won a maiden Grand Slam at last year's US Open. She has emerged as one of the best players of her generation.
What is even worthy of admiration is that she has never shied away from using her voice and platform to speak up on quite a number of social issues. Recently, she talked about playing in front of minority communities living in the Middle East, where the inhabitants face diverse challenges.
Gauff told reporters ahead of her second-round match in Doha that she feels a "connection," especially since she has been an advocate for representing those from marginalized or minority communities.
"Yeah, I definitely feel when I play in places where there are more minorities, it does feel truthfully like a connection, and we all have different struggles in the world, depending on our race or background. Hopefully, it is something we can connect on, being different or being perceived different than how we actually are."
"So I do, you know, feel a connection a little bit here or just anyplace where I play where, you know, it's more minorities. I feel like I feel that in the crowd here, and I feel like when I'm walking around the site here, I feel like people connect with me on that."
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