Coco Gauff: who is American tennis star? Is she playing at Australian Open, career highlights and net worth

Coco Gauff is through to the third round of the Australian Open following her two set win over Briton’s Emma Raducanu in the second round. Gauff is currently seeded seventh in the tournament having enjoyed her best season to date in 2022.

While Iga Swiatek is currently the bookies’ favourite to win the 2022 Australian Open, Gauff is not far behind and will hope to feature in the women’s finals on Saturday 28 January.

18-year-old Gauff was able to overcome both her first and second round opponents in two sets, and following her win over Raducanu, the American said: “Yeah, I definitely feel for her. I guess I can knd of relate. I feel like she experienced it on a much bigger level than I did. But coming in on tour young, it’s a different life from juniors, playing in small events, to all of a sudden people knowing your name, people expecting you to win all the time.”

So as Coco Gauff prepares to cotinue her Australian Open campaign, here is all you need to know about the rising star...

Who is Coco Gauff?

18-year-old Coco Gauff was born in Atlanta, Georgia and is currently the world number seven in the singles’ rankings and world number four in the doubles.

She won her first WTA Tour singles title at the 2019 Linz Open aged just 15, making her the youngest singles title-holder since 2004. Gauff enjoyed success as a junior, reaching world number one in the junior circuits, and earned a sponsorship to train at Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy in France.

Her number one ranking came after winning the junior 2018 French Open singles title and in the same year won the junior Grand Slam doubles title at the US Open.

The 18-year-old made her WTA Tour debut in March 2019 at the Miami Open, winning her opening match. She then went on to receive a wildcard to enter the qualifying draw at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships where she became the youngest player in the tournament’s history to qualify for the main draw.

She also hit the headlines after beating seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams.

Additionally, each of her matches were the most-watched of the day in the US. Her first major final in the women’s doubles came in 2021 at the US Open.

Coco Gauff in 2022

2022 has been Gauff’s standout year and reached the quarter-finals at the Qatar Open, defeating Shelby Rogers, Caroline Garcia and third seed Paula Badosa in the process.

Her highest point came in June when she made it through to the finals of the French Open, defeating Rebecca Marino, Alison Van Uytvanck, Kaia Kanepi, Elise Mertens, Sloane Stephens and Martina Trevisan.

Her result in Paris saw her rise to number 13 in the singles rankings. The following Grand Slam at Wimbledon saw the youngster reach the third round and as a result she achieved a new career-high ranking of world number 11.

Gauff and fellow American Jessica Pegula won their second WTA 1000 title together at the Canadian Open this year and their win saw Gauff become the number one doubles player in the world.

The 18-year-old ended her year at the WTA Finals where she competed against the top eight players in the women’s game.

What is Coco Gauff’s net worth?

According to CelebrityNetWorth, Gauff is estimated to have a net worth of $3.5million (£2.9m). While most of her worth comes from her match wins, she signed an endorsement deal with New Balance in 2018 as well as securing a deal with racquet maker Head.

Gauff signed a multi-year contract with the pasta company Barilla in March 2019.

When is Coco Gauff playing at the Australian Open?

Gauff will play her third round fixture on Friday 20 January and will face fellow American Bernarda Pera. She is once again featuring in the doubles’ tournament, along with Jessica Pegula and will play her second round fixture on Saturday 21 January against Moyuka Uchijima and Wang Xinyu