“Living my dream,” Birthday girl Coco Gauff reflects on her career as she continues her run in Indian Wells

On the eve of her 19th birthday, Coco Gauff gave herself a wonderful present by securing a victory in her third-round match at Indian Wells on Sunday. As she reflected on her impressive performance on the court, the American tennis sensation was overcome with emotion. Winning and playing tennis are the most precious gifts for Gauff, who expressed her excitement at the opportunity to enjoy such a fantastic outing on the eve of her special day.

Gauff, who is ranked No. 6 in the world, defeated her fellow young rising star, Linda Noskova, 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the last-16 at Indian Wells for the first time in her career. With a title from Auckland and a semi-final and a quarter-final under her belt already in 2023, Gauff is in exceptional form this season. Coco Gauff will turn 19 on March 13th.

She expressed her joy at being able to celebrate her birthday by competing on tour. She stated that she always becomes emotional on her special day. When asked about her life on the eve of her birthday, Gauff said, “Yeah, I’m for sure living my dream. I guess the on-court part is glamorous in a way, yes. Off-court, I always tell people my life is boring. That’s part of the reason why I’ve never done any, I guess, filming or any of that, like behind-the-scenes stuff.”

She later added, “I literally just don’t leave my room sometimes. Yeah, and the tennis part, I guess online and that persona, yeah, I’m living the dream, but I guess that’s my dream. Like, I don’t want to be outside — I guess there’s a phrase, I don’t know if you guys heard — but be outside all the time. I enjoy this kind of balance of being extroverted in certain situations and introverted in certain situations. There is, you know, no other life that I would want other than mine right now.”

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Coco Gauff advances into next round at Indian Wells open

In a bid to advance to the last 16, two 18-year-olds competed against each other. Coco Gauff has only lost to Jelena Ostapenko, Veronika Kudermetova, and Iga Swiatek this year, but she has also claimed victories over Madison Keys, Petra Kvitova, and Emma Raducanu, in addition to winning her third career title in Auckland. She defeated Cristina Bucsa in her opening match at Indian Wells.

Meanwhile, Linda Noskova, who is eight months younger than Gauff, made a strong start to the season with a good run in Adelaide but failed to make an impact in Melbourne. However, she has returned to form, beating Irina-Camelia Begu and Amanda Anisimova, and will pose a tough challenge for Gauff, who has been eliminated in the third round in her previous two Indian Wells appearances.

Gauff is currently playing both singles and doubles and performing really well. She is the second seed in women’s doubles along with Jessica Pegula and sixth seed in singles in the tournament. Fans would want to see her continue winning matches and entertain them.

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