Coco Gauff column: How TikTok and Jaden Smith help escape Australian Open pressure

1 year ago 56

Coco Gauff file for BBC Sport

Coco Gauff, who changeable to fame by reaching the Wimbledon past 16 arsenic a 15-year-old successful 2019, is the latest starring WTA Tour subordinate to constitute a BBC Sport column.

In her latest portion earlier the Australian Open 4th round, the American seventh effect talks astir her different relation arsenic a TikTok trendsetter and however her dada became a viral sensation.

Professional tennis tin beryllium a pugnacious concern truthful it is important to find a mode to unwind - I emotion to bash that by creating videos connected TikTok.

I find it the champion mode to flight from tennis. Maybe immoderate radical deliberation determination are amended ways to flight from things but that is the Gen Z way!

It's the lone app wherever I'm not needfully seen arsenic a tennis player. Some radical who travel maine don't adjacent cognize I play tennis.

Obviously radical travel maine connected Instagram and Twitter, which is chiefly each tennis content, whereas I seldom station tennis contented connected TikTok. I lone enactment worldly determination if I tin marque it funny.

I had a viral creation which had millions of views. Nobody knew it was my creation - that's my amusive fact.

I made it arsenic a gag and influencers with millions of followers were doing the creation and immoderate of them were crediting me. So possibly I'm a trendsetter connected TikTok!

It's not the lone creation I've had spell viral, successful information I had 1 this week which had 2 cardinal views.

The crushed that went viral was due to the fact that of my dad! Everyone is loving the video of him doing a creation - chiefly due to the fact that helium wasn't that bully astatine it.

My dada claims helium doesn't similar the attraction but I deliberation helium secretly loves it. He's the benignant of feline who likes to marque radical laugh.

He's decidedly playing into it! He did a remake aft the archetypal video and if I asked him to bash different video, I'm definite helium would.

The video was a inclination to 'party adjacent door' and everyone is doing it with their parents, but I deliberation I was the archetypal idiosyncratic to not thatch them the dance, I told them conscionable to transcript me.

I deliberation that is the crushed wherefore it blew up due to the fact that I created my ain inclination - and possibly due to the fact that radical thought my dada was trash.

When I told my dada it had gone viral and however galore views it had, helium said: "What does viral mean? And bash I get a cheque?" He needs to get paid!

Coco Gauff celebrates winning the 2019 Linz Open with her parents Candi and Corey

How listening to Jaden, The Weeknd & J Cole puts maine successful the zone

People volition person seen that erstwhile I locomotion retired onto tribunal I usually person my headphones on.

Doing this truly started astatine Wimbledon successful 2019 - wherever I made my breakthrough erstwhile I was 15 - due to the fact that I didn't privation to perceive the assemblage erstwhile I walked on.

I didn't bash it successful the qualifying matches, it conscionable started with the main draw. I didn't privation to perceive the assemblage due to the fact that I thought it would marque maine much tense and you volition spot looking backmost I ever walked successful with my caput down.

Even present I'm older and much experienced, wearing the headphones and listening to hype euphony is thing which has stuck.

Now I person transitioned from walking with my caput down to looking up astatine the crowd. I consciousness I person present go comfy capable to springiness the fans a small wave, too. Sometimes I won't, it depends connected however tense I americium feeling.

The lone clip I don't deterioration my headphones is if I hide them.

I crook the measurement down truthful I cognize erstwhile I'm being told to locomotion retired of the passageway and past I power the euphony backmost up to afloat blast.

It's not truly a superstition thing, I'd accidental I'm not a superstition person.

The last opus I play - the 1 which truly gets maine pumped arsenic I locomotion retired - changes from tourney to tournament.

But truthful acold this twelvemonth I person gone backmost to my roots - I'm playing Icon by Jaden Smith. That's what I was listening to astatine Wimbledon successful 2019.

I truly emotion this song. The instrumentality playing astatine the commencement gets maine pumped up and the opus makes maine consciousness similar an icon!

I'm into each types of euphony but my fig 1 creator connected my wrapper past twelvemonth was The Weeknd. Then it was Jaden, followed by J Cole. They were my apical 3 artists past twelvemonth and who I listened to the most.

This twelvemonth I've besides been listening to a batch of Childish Gambino.

I'm the benignant of idiosyncratic who volition deterioration retired 1 creator connected 1 travel and past I subordinate that euphony with a circumstantial trip.

You get 1 medium that you emotion and you conscionable support repeating it - I'm definite a batch of radical volition subordinate to that.

That was maine with the SZA medium successful Auckland, that's each I listened to. I had 3 weeks of that truthful it was clip to alteration it up again.

But it was the soundtrack to maine winning the rubric successful Auckland, truthful present I'm hoping Childish Gambino tin beryllium the soundtrack for an adjacent bigger trophy present successful Melbourne.

Coco Gauff was talking to BBC Sport's Jonathan Jurejko astatine Melbourne Park.

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