French Open Winner Coco Gauff Sends Liberty Crowd Into Frenzy

French Open Champion Coco Gauff made her first appearance back home by taking the time to watch the New York Liberty in action.

French Open Winner Coco Gauff Sends Liberty Crowd Into Frenzy

Coco Gauff gets hero's welcome by New York Liberty (Image via FirstSportz)

Coco Gauff has now become the most popular American athlete in the entire world. Last Saturday, she defeated World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open to mark her second major Grand Slam win. The Florida native should be usually celebrating her win with her family, but the first appearance she made since the win was at a WNBA game.

The 21-year-old came along with her brother to watch the New York Liberty take on the Chicago Sky. Before the game, she met Sabrina Ionescu and the rest of the home team. Ionescu presented her with a 2025 Liberty jersey with Gauff’s name on the back.

Then the French Open champion took to her assigned courtside seat before the game. She saw the Liberty start off strong and jump into a double-digit lead. After watching this unfold, the Sky called a timeout to regroup and figure out how to respond.

At this moment, the Liberty’s jumbotron started replaying Coco Gauff’s incredible French Open win. Most of the fans were already on their feet applauding the 21-year-old’s achievement. Then, as the cameras panned towards the tennis star sitting courtside, every single fan was on their feet cheering.

Front Office Sports’ Annie Costabile captured those moments on her phone and noted that the decibels inside Barclays Center reached an unbelievable level. The fans inside cheered at the top of their lungs, showing their appreciation for the tennis star’s landmark win.

Coco Gauff danced with Liberty stars inside locker room

Winning the French Open was one thing, but getting to celebrate it with other established women in sports is another. After the New York Liberty won their ninth-straight game, they went into the locker room to celebrate.

Coco Gauff dances with the New York Liberty
Coco Gauff dances with the New York Liberty (Image via New York Liberty/X)

A video clip emerged on the Liberty’s official social media page where it shows some of their players lining up to perform a victory dance. It happened to be Bankroll Ni‘s famous track, I’m So ATL. The song is popular among TikTok and Instagram influencers and many use it to perform their own dance routines.

In this case, they stuck with the original, but as soon as they started, the two players in the middle moved aside to reveal Coco Gauff performing the same steps as them. The video went viral as it had been probably the first time the French Open winner danced away after her phenomenal victory.

Coco Gauff gets high praise from Angel Reese

Considering that the New York Liberty were playing the Chicago Sky, the latter’s leading star Angel Reese had to meet Coco Gauff. After the game, the Sky forward went over to the French Open champion and embraced her. During the post-game press conference, Reese mentioned how she is inspired by the French Open champion.

Congrats to Coco. She’s amazing as a young Black woman. I’m super inspired by everything she does. To see her come show up to a WNBA game shows how much she supports women. She supports women sports. I just hope she continues to be her.

Angel Reese said

Reese added that considering how much fame and the pressure to succeed is on Coco Gauff, it is inspiring how that she is managing to keep it all together. The Sky forward seemed to tilt towards how she has been scrutinized after achieving this much fame in such a short time.

Reese and her Sky lost their second straight game after being unable to reduce the monumental deficit against the New York Liberty. The 23-year-old had a good game, notching another double-double, but it was not enough as the Liberty embarrassed the Sky 85-66.

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