“I admire your vulnerability,” Coco Gauff roots for Osaka
Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff
Some say that Tennis has a representation problem, which basically means that there are too many people of the same kind in tennis. How that translates is that there are very few players of colour in Tennis. And there lies the problem. How a person of colour is raised, his/her experiences are completely different to a white person.
So usually when someone like Naomi Osaka comes out and asks for support and help she is faced with rebuke from most corners, and it takes another person of colour to step up and support her. Serena Williams had come out and supported Osaka, now Coco Gauff has done the same.
Coco Gauff supports Osaka
Coco Gauff is only seventeen but she is mature beyond her years. Her maturity is visible on the court and how she deals with issues of it as well. In the past Gauff has also lent her support to the BLM Movement.
As Naomi Osaka withdrew from French Open, she tweeted her emotions out in the form of a statement. Reacting to that statement Gauff expressed solidarity with the Japanese player. She wished for her strength and said that she admired the way Osaka was able to expose her vulnerable side to the World. Coco Gauff tweeted, “ stay strong— I admire your vulnerability”.
Apart from Gauff, Osaka has also found support from Serena Williams who has said that Naomi Osaka is doing the best she can, and must be allowed to do it. She said, “You just have to let her handle it the way she wants to, in the best way she thinks she can, and that`s the only thing I can say. I think she’s doing the best that she can.”
Coco Gauff set to start her French Open campaign
Gauff has been very good on clay this year. She started her season at Charleston, and made it to the Quarter-finals of the event. At that stage she was beaten by an in form Ons Jabeur. Next up was Madrid, where the teenager lost in the round of sixty-four to Karolina Pliskova.
Then she made it to the Semi-finals of the Italian open, and was beaten by the stupendous Iga Swiatek. Finally at Parma Coco Gauff won her second title on the tour. She will open her campaign against Aleksandra Krunić of Serbia.
Auri Ghosh
(652 Articles Published)