Gauff, 19, became a Grand Slam champion at this year’s US Open.
Coco Gauff reveals her dad Corey bought a shirt at the start of the US Open that had the word “imagine” written on it because he believed his daughter would make the final at Flushing Meadows. After winning Washington and Cincinnati, Gauff came to the US Open regarded as one of the top favorites for the title.
Gauff met all the expectations in New York as the American beat Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open final to become a Grand Slam champion at the age of 19. “He said he bought it at the beginning of the tournament & said he had an image that I was going to make it to the final.
And he was going to wear that shirt if I did. Just imagine your dreams can come true. You just have to keep working for it,” Gauff said on NBC, via The Tennis Letter.
That year, Gauff also watched the US Open men’s singles final between Rafael Nadal and Kevin Anderson. That’s when Gauff got envisions of her lifting the US Open trophy one day. “When I was 13 I think or 14 when I played US Open juniors, I watched the men’s final that year, so I had those envisions of myself then.
Honestly, you know, the French Open moment, I don’t know if they caught it on camera but I watched Iga lift up that trophy, and I watched her the whole time. I said, I’m not going to take my eyes off her, because I want to feel what that felt like for her.
That felt like craziness today lifting this trophy. It hasn’t sunken in and I think it probably will maybe in a week or so,” Gauff said after winning the US Open,” Gauff said.