Reading books is part of Coco Gauff's daily routine this year, but she is doing it as part of a challenge with her boyfriend.
Tennis players, like most athletes, spend their entire livelihoods getting better physically and mentally. They also strive to become role models for those who look up to them.
For instance, last year, World No. 1 Iga Swiatek revealed her penchant for reading books in hard copy as a way to unwind from the demanding life of the tennis tour and maintain her emotional well-being.
Moreover, the Pole wanted to inspire the newer generation of young men and women to have "another perspective" on spending their quality time, especially now that social media has become entrenched in people's lives.
For Gauff, reading books goes far beyond holistic development. She's done it since a tender age but lost her mojo when she got older and is now looking to regain her passion.
The young American recently revealed to reporters at the Berlin Open, where she is competing in her first grass-court tournament of 2024, that she is determined to outperform her boyfriend, who set himself a goal of skimming a total of 24 books this year.
"[The reading challenge] started because I loved reading as a kid and I kind of lost it when I got older. So at first my goal was to read 12 books, one per month. Then my boyfriend has this thing where he reads the amount of books as the year we're in, so 24 in 2024, 23 in 2023."
"So when he said he was going to read 24, I got super competitive and I doubled my goal to match his and I like trying to finish faster than him. I'm two books ahead, so I'm winning right now."
The 20-year-old opened her account in Berlin with a hard-fought 7-6, 6-2 win over Ekaterina Alexndrova on Thursday. After the inclement weather postponed Friday's matches, she will play Ons Jabeur in the quarterfinal on Saturday.
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