'It's great to have people my age on the Tour': Coco Gauff embraces WTA's rising youth movement

Coco Gauff was the star of the Rome Open main draw ceremony, where she was joined by teenager Tyra Grant (No. 335) – who recently switched her American flag to represent Italy and received a wildcard into the main draw, marking her WTA 1000 debut at just 17 years old.

If anyone knows about early debuts on the Tour, it is undoubtedly American Gauff, who at 21 years old boasts 9 professional titles, including the 2023 US Open, the 2024 WTA Finals, and two WTA 1000 titles at the Cincinnati Open and China Open.

Gauff began playing professionally at 14 in ITF tournaments, and less than a year later, she made her WTA debut after receiving a wildcard into the main draw of the Miami Open, where she also secured her first Tour-level victory against Caty McNally.

At just 15 years old, she achieved her first major upset by defeating five-time champion Venus Williams at Wimbledon and advancing to the fourth round – where she lost to the eventual champion Simona Halep. A couple of months later, she won her first professional title at the Linz Open, defeating Jelena Ostapenko in the final. Since then, Gauff has a total of 354 professional matches (248-106 record, 70%) and is still only 21 years old.

After several years of seeing Gauff as the youngest player in the biggest tournaments, new players of the same generation as the American have gradually emerged and are starting to gain positions among the best.

In a press conference before her Rome Open debut, as reported by Punto de Break, the former US Open champion spoke about the emergence of new players, even younger than her, and what they bring to the Tour. "From a competitive perspective, it doesn't matter to me," she stated.