Coco Gauff came to Dubai focused on forehands and footwork. Instead, the world No. 5 found herself fielding questions about unrest at home.
Speaking Sunday ahead of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the 21-year-old American said she remains proud of her country while condemning the January killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
“I’m proud to be an American,” Gauff said. “But everything going on in the U.S., obviously, I’m not really for it. I don’t think people should be dying in the streets just for existing. I don’t like what’s going on.”
Good, a 37-year-old poet and mother of three, was fatally shot by an ICE agent earlier in January. Weeks later, Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was killed during a protest tied to that shooting.
Their deaths ignited demonstrations in Minneapolis and beyond, intensifying debate over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal use of force.
Gauff is the latest high-profile American athlete to step into that debate.
Winter Olympian Hunter Hess said earlier this month that wearing the U.S. flag does not mean endorsing everything happening in the country. His remarks drew a sharp response from Donald Trump, who criticized him on social media.
On the WTA Tour, Madison Keys voiced hope that the country can reunite around values rooted in diversity and immigration.
Top-ranked American man Taylor Fritz took a different path. He declined to comment, saying any quote could be pulled into headlines and become a distraction in the middle of a tournament.
Gauff understands that choice. She insists athletes have the right to stay silent. She simply will not.
“The biggest thing I hate is when people say stay out of it when we’re being asked about it,” she said. “If you ask me, I’m going to give you my honest answer.”
For Gauff, the issue runs deeper than a news cycle. Her grandmother was the first Black student to attend a previously all-white public school in Delray Beach, Florida, in 1961 and later became an activist. That family history shapes how she approaches questions about justice and equality.
“I lived this,” Gauff said. “This is literally my life. I’m OK answering tough questions.”
