As she received treatment and prepared for this week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Coco Gauff had the news in the background almost every day.
Gauff could be forgiven for not being up to date on everything that’s been happening in the United States: She spends nearly 11 months of the year on the road, often thousands of miles away from her home in Delray Beach, Florida.
But the 21-year-old says she “likes to stay informed” and admits it was “difficult” waking up to news of the immigration crackdown and the killing of protesters at home.
“Everything that’s happening in the US, I’m obviously not really in favor of that. I don’t think people should be dying on the streets just because they exist. I don’t like what’s happening,” Gauff said in Dubai on Sunday, referring to the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal agents in Minnesota.
“I think it’s hard for me to wake up and see something sometimes because I care a lot about our country. I think for some reason people think I don’t, but I do. I’m very proud to be an American. I think it’s hard to wake up and see something.”
“But I think if you come from any country, you don’t have to represent the full values of what’s going on in the leadership. I think there are a lot of people there who believe in the things I believe in, and who believe in diversity and equality. So I hope that as the future progresses, we can get back to those values.”
Activism is in Gauff’s DNA. Her maternal grandmother Yvonne Lee Odom helped desegregate public schools in Delray Beach in the 1960s, and she passed on her experiences and values to Gauff.
Gauff has long eschewed the “shut up and dribble” rhetoric leveled at athletes who dare to speak out on social and political issues.
At the age of 16, she participated in a Black Lives Matter rally in her hometown gave a moving speech in which she urged people to take action, exercise their right to vote and stand up for social justice.
“The silence of good people is worse than the cruelty of bad people,” she said that day, quoting Martin Luther King Jr., as her grandmother looked on.
Gauff has also spoken out against the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza. He told National News in an interview two years ago: “It’s important for us as privileged citizens to do our research and just continue to demand that our leaders make change, and I will never advocate for that.”
The two-time Grand Slam champion is often asked to address social and political issues, and insists she will never shy away from answering them.
“I have never felt torn when I am asked a question because it is relevant. If you ask me, I will tell you how I feel,” she said on Sunday.
“I think a lot of people on social media, on the other hand, like to say: stay out of politics, stay out of the things that are happening.
“You will be asked these kinds of things in the press. People want to hear our opinion about it. Some players choose to say ‘no comment’, which is completely within their right. I understand that. Some prefer to give their opinion.”
“I think the biggest thing I hate is when people say, ‘Stay out of it,’ when we’re asked. If you ask me, I’ll give you my honest answer.”
“If I’m asked, I have no problems. Because I’ve been through this. My grandmother is literally an activist. This is literally my life. So I can answer difficult questions just fine.”
Gauff, number four in the world, will kick off her campaign in Dubai on Tuesday against Anna Kalinskaya.
#Coco #Gauff #dont #people #die #streets #exist