Coco Gauff has bluntly rejected a fan-picked nickname, insisting that she does not like it and urging her supporters to choose a better one. The young American is currently competing at the Italian Open, having reached the quarter-finals of the women’s singles tournament. She breezed past Emma Raducanu in her previous match and will face Mirra Andreeva in the last eight.
Gauff has also been playing doubles alongside Alexandra Eala, who reached the Miami Open semi-finals earlier this year. The pair have enjoyed a strong start to their campaign in Rome and remain in with a chance of landing the title. They will go up against the Italian duo of Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani on Wednesday afternoon.
Ahead of the match, Gauff and Eala took to social media with a joint message to their fans. They showed gratitude for the support they have received so far and urged fans to keep cheering them on during the latter stages of the tournament.
Eala opened the message by saying: “Hi everybody, it’s Alex and Coco here. Thank you so much for all the support that you’ve been giving us this week, and hopefully in our next match, a lot of you will come out and watch.”
Gauff echoed Eala’s sentiments but added that she was not fond of the nickname used by some fans to describe their doubles partnership. They have been referred to as ‘Team Coachella’, which has not gone down too well with the American.
“Thank you guys for all the support,” said Gauff. “Super happy to be playing with Alex and hope you guys keep supporting us. And we don’t like Team Coachella, so pick a new name.” Eala added: “Okay, so another name. Maybe another name. Okay, bye.”
Gauff recently described her playing partner as a ‘killer’ while explaining why she decided to team up with her at the Italian Open.
“She slid into my DMs and asked me to play,” explained Gauff. “And I was like: ‘Sure, why not?’. We really didn’t know each other, honestly. Before in Madrid, I said hi to her for the first time.
“I was just hoping she would be nice, and you know, obviously she’s such a nice person. And obviously she’s a killer in doubles, two junior Slams and probably future ones too. I’m super happy to play with her.”
Gauff will be hoping to come away from the Italian Open with two titles, given that she is among the favourites to prevail in the singles tournament. If she beats Andreeva, she will face either Aryna Sabalenka or Zheng Qinwen in the semi-finals.