Some have wondered whether Coco Gauff and Caty McNally are no longer friends after they stopped playing doubles together, but McNally confirmed that is not the case.
Gauff and McNally formed a successful doubles partnership after the former came onto the WTA Tour, despite still being young teenagers at the time. McNally was 17, and Gauff was 15 when they won their first title together at the Citi Open in Washington.
Their most notable achievement was reaching last year's US Open final, which they lost to Samantha Stosur and Shuai Zhang in three sets. It seemed like the partnership was going from strength to strength.
However, Gauff and McNally stopped playing doubles together earlier this year. Gauff now plays with Jessica Pegula instead, with whom she got to the French Open final in June.
Pegula and Gauff recently won the Canadian Open, sealing the latter's place at No. 1 in the doubles rankings. McNally confirmed she reached out to congratulate her former partner on that achievement.
"I thought it was incredible. Yeah, no, I reached out to Coco and congratulated her on that milestone. Honestly didn't know, like, that match like if she won it she was going to get World No. 1"
The 20-year-old confirmed the duo were still close friends off the court despite not playing doubles together. That should end the rumors about a rift behind the scenes being the reason for their split.
"Coco and I, yeah, like we are not playing right now, as everyone has probably seen, but we still have a great friendship. I still consider her one of my best friends on tour. We still support each other through the ups and downs."
It will be interesting to observe whether Gauff stays so committed to playing doubles since her singles career will likely progress further. The 18-year-old reached her first singles Grand Slam final at this year's French Open.