WTA FINALS

October 28, 2023

Coco Gauff

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Coco, do you want to go ahead and start us off. You've had such an exciting season this year, back in the Finals again. How are you feeling arriving in Cancun?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I'm super happy to be here in Cancun. It was a great year, great season for me obviously, and I'm happy to finish it off here.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What is your feeling about play in singles as doubles with Jessica Pegula?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, we did it last year. We both had great seasons in singles and doubles this year. For us to qualify for the second year in a row is pretty cool in both events. I don't know if that many pairs of players have done that. So I'm really happy just to be here and also play with Jess, who I consider a friend on and off the court.

Q. The court and the stadium was a topic all week. You finally practice today.

COCO GAUFF: No, I haven't practiced on it yet. No, I'm practicing on it after this.

Q. How do you expect from the stadium?

COCO GAUFF: I actually haven't seen it other than the pictures online. But I saw a couple videos of the girls practicing on it. It looks like it's going to be a nice stadium. I'm excited to hit on it later.

Yeah, the only thing is it's going to be windy. I'm from south Florida, close to Miami, so we get a lot of wind. I'm really happy and excited to be here in the WTA Finals and hopefully have a good week here in Cancun.

Q. What do you like most about Mexico and what do you expect from the Mexican fans?

COCO GAUFF: Yeah, what I like most? Probably the food. I love to eat. That's pretty much my favorite thing about most places, is the food. I've been eating a lot of tacos here. And fish, I've been in Mexico a couple times, but for some reason the fish here is unbelievable. Maybe because I've ordered tacos every time I'm in Mexico.

For the first time here, I started to eat fish. I like the way fish is seasoned here. I had sea bass today and that was some of the best fish I had in my life.

Mexican fans? I think I played Guadalajara once. When I was in juniors, I played in Campeche, Mexico. The fans both places were really cool, really passionate about tennis. I expect them to be just as passionate here in Cancun.

Q. As the top-ranked American player, can you talk a little bit about the state of American tennis and your thoughts on Lindsay Davenport being the new Billie Jean King Cup captain?

COCO GAUFF: The state of American tennis is outstanding. Not to shade the men, but it's actually even on both sides. I'm really, really happy with how both the men and women players are doing. Have a lot of players in the top 30 on both sides. That's just super exciting.

With Lindsay being the captain, I think that's a really cool new addition to the Billie Jean King Cup team. I've met her a couple times. I haven't really spoken tennis with her yet, but I'm really excited to see what I can learn from her. Hopefully I can be a good player under her leadership.

Q. This year you won four titles, including a Grand Slam. At this point have you reflect what you achieve at such young age?

COCO GAUFF: Yes and no. I feel like sometimes I tend to look towards the next thing. When we're in season, it's tough to reflect all of the time. After this last tournament, I think we'll have enough time to reflect and be proud of all the things I've done, but also look for improvement on how I can do even better.

Q. (Off microphone.)

COCO GAUFF: I think the most important thing is just how you respond mentally, accepting it for what it is. You're going to miss some, you're going to make some. You're going to win some points because of luck, because of the wind, and you're also going to lose some.

Obviously just moving your feet as much as possible, trying to arrive to the ball as early as I can. I think those are the keys that I think will matter the most this week.

Q. You're kind of the star of Halloween every year, how elaborate the get-ups are with you and your family. When did that tradition start? Can you talk about this year's costume? What is your favorite one that you've ever done?

COCO GAUFF: When did it start? I guess a kid. I've always been passionate about Halloween since I was a kid. I always loved to dress up. I would do it, like, year-round. I've always talked about wanting to go to Cosplay, the conventions and all of that.

With my family, honestly only three members of my family, or two, one actually, Cameron is the only one who is really keen to doing it. The rest I just kind of force to do it. We have some funny videos of us trying to get pictures together. My dad is fed up. Codey is fed up. They don't care about Halloween that much, but they do it for me. You can see their costumes are the least effort amount. This year they just had to put on a mask.

My favorite Halloween costume I've done as a family was a Scooby-Doo one a couple years ago. I thought that was pretty cool.

For me, I did like the moon -- I don't know. I think I did Thor a while ago, and Raven last year was really cool. Then Freddy Krueger was obviously last minute. My brother wanted to be Chucky for Halloween. I said, We should all be fictional serial killers, and that's what we did.