Gauff pays emotional tribute to mum

COCO Gauff gave shout-outs to her mother, Candi, and her maternal grandmother, Yvonne Lee Odom, on International Women’s Day following her second-round win at the ongoing 2025 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Gauff sealed her spot in the third round of the prestigious WTA 1000 tennis event in the Californian desert after a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) win over Moyuka Uchijima.

During her post-match, on-court interview, the No. 3 seed at the tournament was asked to name the inspirational women in her life in light of International Women’s Day on Saturday, March 8.

To start off with, Gauff named her mother, Candi, saying:

“I’ll give it (a shout-out on International Women’s Day) for sure to my mom. She’s been rocking with me, I don’t know where she went, but she’s been rocking with me the past few weeks.”

Coco Gauff proceeded to laud her maternal grandmother Yvonne Lee Odom, highlighting her fight against cancer and her endeavor to uplift education in Palm Beach County.

“And then, my grandmother. You know, she’s a stage 4 lung cancer survivor and also integrated one of the local schools in Palm Beach County, way back when that Civil Rights era was there. So, shout-out to her, and she’s the reason I’m so vocal on certain issues and I’ll always use tennis as my platform to fight for equality, so shoutout to my mom and my grandmom,” Gauff added.

Gauff reached her first-ever Major final at the 2023 US Open, but things got off to a rocky start for the home favourite at Flushing Meadows, as she lost the first set 2-6 to Aryna Sabalenka. However, Gauff staged a remarkable comeback, as she won the second and third sets 6-3, 6-2, respectively, to win the prestigious hardcourt Grand Slam —Agencies.