This American tennis star has been making global headlines since she was 15 and despite taking out the US Open – she says Aussies barely recognise her.
American Coco Gauff is one of tennis’ biggest stars in the world right now and despite being fresh off a US Open win, the 19-year-old has revealed she is barely recognised off the court when in Melbourne.
Gauff became a US Open champion last year and is the No. 4 seed at this year’s Australian Open.
But she has been making global headlines since she was just 15 years old and knocked seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams out of Wimbledon in 2019 as a wildcard.
The teen is particularly enjoying her time Down Under because she is able to take a break from the fame.
“Just walking around in Melbourne, I don’t really get recognised that much, which is nice,” Gauff told reporters after her second round win on Wednesday.
“Just walking to dinner, you know, maybe one or two people notice, and yeah, it’s something that I appreciate a lot.”
Gauff has 1.6 million Instagram followers and another 620,700 followers on TikTok and 15.7 million likes.
The Florida-based tennis star got through to the third round of the Australian Open after defeating fellow American Caroline Dolehide 7-6, 6-2 on Wednesday on Margaret Court Arena.
Gauff described the experience of playing in Australia as “definitely more chill”.
“I like it. The crowd support is different, for sure,” she said.
“The last matches obviously I have been more the favourite in the crowd but it’s not like the New York crowd. But I like Australian Open, and I like the chill vibes here. I feel less stress here.”
She has a career-high ranking of world No. 3 in singles and world No. 1 in doubles.
On Friday, she will play American Alycia Parks in the third round of the Aussie tournament.