Coco Gauff acknowledged that she had been confused with certain competitors, with the most recent incident occurring during this week’s Canadian Open.
Coco Gauff has revealed that she has been mistaken for six other tennis players in the past after yet another mix-up. The world No 7 said she had previously signed autographs as each of the Williams sisters. While competing in this week’s Canadian Open, she was also confused with home hero Leylah Fernandez even though the world No 81 hails from Montreal.
Gauff advanced to the round-of-16 in Montreal on Wednesday as she ended the hopes of British qualifier Katie Boulter. The sixth seed at the Canadian Open, she came into the tournament fresh off the back of winning her biggest career title in Washington.
Aged just 19, the American has already been a regular fixture on the professional tennis circuit for four years. But that hasn’t stopped some fans from confusing her with some of her rivals, including both Serena and Venus Williams.
Gauff took to Twitter to reveal that she had signed autographs on behalf of six other players, with the latest offence coming just one day ago. The four-time title winner quotes a tweet prompt which read: “You ever had a racist experience but it was funny tho.”
Reposting it, she wrote: “I sign autographs as myself but occasionally I am somehow also signing as Sloane, Venus, Serena, Taylor, Alycia, and yesterday I got Leylah for the first time lollll.”
The case of mistaken identity with Fernandez is a surprising one, given that it happened at the Canadian Open. Fernandez not only hails from Canada but was born in Montreal – the host city of the WTA edition of the event this year.
And she’s not the only player who has experienced something similar, as Wimbledon breakout star Christopher Eubanks said the same happened to him at last week’s Washington tournament. Responding to Gauff, the world No 29 wrote: “I got called Monfils twice in DC lol.”
Gauff will be hoping that she can make sure the Montreal fans know exactly who she is with her tennis this week. She has already been on the court twice in singles and doubles, earning victories in both. The 19-year-old needed just 73 minutes to ease past Boulter for the loss of four games in her opening singles match.
Meanwhile, Gauff and Jessica Pegula are the top seeds in the doubles event and are the defending champions – lifting the trophy when the tournament was played in Toronto 12 months ago. They opened their title defence with a 6-7(3) 6-1 [10-3] victory over. Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi on Tuesday.
