Tennis365 spent a fun afternoon in Wuhan with French Open champion Coco Gauff, as she danced with robots and then spoke to this website about her eagerness to spread a positive message that will engage young tennis fans.
Gauff is one of the most celebrated female athletes in world sport, with the impact she has had over the course of her career inspiring so many kids to pick up a racket for the first time.
As she visited the Hubei Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre in Wuhan, Gauff had the chance to dance with robots and control one for herself, before she spoke to Tennis365 about the importance of using her considerable voice to promote tennis.
“It’s important to promote tennis to new audiences,” Gauff told us. “I hope that tennis can continue to be a sport not just for the enthusiasts, but also for the casual fan who wants to watch football, basketball and soccer as well.
“We don’t get as many fans watching tour events. The Grand Slams are different, but it would be nice to see more casual fans watching tour events.
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“Hopefully kids are engaged by events like this. I’m not sure about my dance moves, though! I don’t think that will engage too many new people to come and watch me.
“A lot of people do seem to like my TikToks. That was the most compliments I got in Beijing last week. They wanted me to post more TikToks. I haven’t done that in a while, so I need to do more of it.”
Gauff is creating a huge stir everywhere she goes in Wuhan, with the excitement as she made an appearance for the robotics event, highlighting her star power.
She admits she would like to see more of Wuhan, but he hectic schedule following a semi-final appearance in the W1000 tournament in Beijing last before her dash to the next big event on the WTA Tour means sightseeing is not on her agenda.
Coco Gauff with a robot (Wuhan Open/CVG)
“Last year I came straight from Beijing, had one day and played the match,” she reflected. “This year, I took a five-hour train journey up to Wuhan and I’m straight on court to practice.
“I’ve walked just around the hotel, but I haven’t really seen anything. Even though it’s great as I like the one-week WTA 1000s, it does give you less time to look around the city.
“So I don’t know if I’ll ever have time, because I would hope to keep going deep in Beijing, but one of these years, maybe. I don’t want to lose early, but if I did, I wouldn’t have more time to look around Wuhan.”
Gauff is set to start her campaign in the final W1000 event of the season in Wuhan on Wednesday, when she will take on Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima.
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