COCO GAUFF pays tribute to her father on his birthday: “You are a loving and kind Dad; my number one fan and the one who has made my aspirations his priority,..

Coco Gauff recently celebrated her father Corey’s birthday with a heartfelt message. Her parents were highly influential during the formative years of her career and, to this day, are always present in the player’s box during Gauff’s matches.

The 20-year-old is the first child among her siblings and has two younger brothers- Codey and Cameron. On Friday, Gauff posted a picture with her dad on her Instagram story to wish him on his special day in a cute fashion.

“Happy Birthday Dad!!, I love you” she captioned and added two heart emojis to it.

Following her Olympic debut in Paris a few weeks ago, the World No. 2 is back competing on the WTA Tour but has struggled with form during the American hard court swing. At the National Bank Open, she faced a third-round exit at the hands of Diana Shnaider and was knocked out by Belarusian star Yulia Putintseva at the Cincinnati Open.

This contrasts with her previous season when Gauff was in dazzling form. She won the 2023 Citi Open without dropping a set, claimed the Cincinnati Open title, and capped off her summer by clinching the US Open. She became the first teenager, since Serena Williams in 1999, to lift the Major title.

Coco Gauff’s father, Corey, recently lauded and encouraged the 20-year-old as she reminisced about her 2023 US Open triumph in an interview with her sponsor, advisory, and tax firm Baker Tilly.

In the interview, posted on the firm’s official Instagram account, Gauff mentioned that it took her weeks to believe she had won the US Major and dubbed the victory unexpected.

“I won the US Open and I still just didn’t feel it. It took me like a week to actually believe that it had happened. I had found myself uncontrollably crying sometimes. Not like sadness, but disbelief. I wanted to win a Grand Slam as a teenager, so I felt like the clock was just kind of ticking. I just didn’t expect it,” Gauff said (00:02)