Coco the pedestrian

2023 Cincinnati Open Champ: ‘I’m just a regular person’

By Richard Osborn

Coco Gauff’s preferred order at Chick-fil-A? She usually goes for the #1 with special sauce, large fries, and a large diet lemonade.

If that comes off at all pedestrian for a two-time Grand Slam champion who by all measures is the biggest star on the American tennis scene, who boasts one of the most lucrative endorsement portfolios in sports, who is the highest-paid female athlete on the planet, it’s because, at the end of the day, she IS pedestrian.

The very definition of ‘pedestrian’, after all, is someone who travels on foot, someone walking on a sidewalk or crossing a street. That’s Coco Gauff right there. Last year during the Cincinnati Open, Gauff was spotted on her own walking to a Reds game. In the rain. She’s known to go to restaurants alone. She likes to go to the movies by herself. She saw the 2016 Japanese anime film “Your Name” the other night in Cincinnati. (“It came out 10 years ago, so I’m late,” she confessed. “But it was good.)

“I’m just a regular person,” said Gauff this week at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where she’s into the Round of 16 for the second year in a row. “Maybe a couple of people might recognize me, but I’m always in different places where I feel pretty safe and nothing’s going to happen. That’s something I enjoy. I’ve always been someone who’s enjoyed alone time.”

“I love my team, but we need space from each other, too. We’re always hanging out, so I enjoy doing those kinds of things. Otherwise, I’m just going to sit in the hotel room.”

Cincinnati feels like home for the 22-year-old, who resides in Delray Beach, Fla. She attended matches here as a kid.

“It feels familiar. That’s why I like playing here,” said Gauff, who launched the summer of her life here in 2023, when she won her maiden WTA 1000 and Grand Slam titles back to back, a magical stretch that culminated with her holding the silvery US Open trophy aloft in Flushing Meadows, the first American teenager to win the title since Serena Williams in 1999. “Cincinnati is a big city, but it still has a hometown kind of feel. It doesn’t necessarily feel like there’s a lot going on, but if you dig a little bit, there actually is.”

So don’t be surprised if you see Gauff out there on the sidewalk doing her pedestrian thing, walking down Joe Nuxhall Way or somewhere along the Ohio River, a little gospel or Future her earbud soundtrack.

“I think a lot of players can get in the habit of Uber Eats or room service every night,” said Gauff, who’s still seeking her first title of 2026. “It’s nice sometimes, but I don’t think it’s healthy given how much we travel. It’s nice to have a little bit of the outside world. It doesn’t feel like tennis is your whole life when you actually walk outside and realize all the moving parts of the world.”

If you see her, she might even stop and sign an autograph. Last year, a young fan returned the favor by presenting her with a Chick-fil-A gift card.

“He asked me this year if I used it, and I said I sure did. Me and him have a real understanding.”