Tennis: Coco Gauff aims for ‘French Open win,’ details love for red clay and more – exclusive

Coco on her parents: They told me, ‘You have to work hard’

Both of Coco’s parents, Candi (Odom) and Corey Gauff, are former collegiate athletes, with her mother having competed in athletics and her father a basketballer.

It’s experience that Coco, who turned 20 in March, has helped pay off in her own burgeoning career, especially as she’s found success at a young age.

“They definitely helped me a lot,” she told Olympics.com. “Not even just growing up, but now. And I think, even though they played at a collegiate level, D-I is a very tough level for sports. And they understand the pressures behind it and you understand the mentality you have to have.”

At times, Corey has taken on the coaching role for Coco, who travelled in her early development as a junior to work at Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy in France, before collaborating with a range of top-level coaches recently, including the revered Brad Gilbert.

Gauff said it’s how they started her out as a youngster, when she began tennis at age six.

“They always supported me,” she said. “With their parents, you know, [they were] probably short-sighted with them and how far they felt like they could go. So when I was growing up, my parents made sure to never… if I said, ‘I want to be this.’ ‘I want to be that.’ They never they’re like, ‘No, it’s tough to do that.'”

Gauff continued: “They were like, ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ And, you know, [they told me]: ‘If you want to do that, you have to work hard.'”