Coco Gauff Says Mystery Boyfriend Will Join Her at Summer Tournaments

Coco Gauff might have an extra special cheering section during her upcoming hard court season.

The tennis star, 20, has been dating her current boyfriend — whose identity Gauff has kept private up until this point — for over a year, but that all might be about to change. 

“My boyfriend, he’ll probably come to maybe some tournaments in the U.S.,” Gauff told People this week. 

Gauff is currently gearing up for Wimbledon, which gets underway on Monday, July 1, at London’s All England Club. Her partner will join her back Stateside instead of making the trek overseas. 

“It’s just a little bit easier than coming to Europe,” Gauff said. 

Gauff’s boyfriend also won’t be in attendance when she competes at the 2024 Summer Olympics next month for similar reasons. 

“I think just right now my mom and dad because it’s in Paris,” Gauff said of her Olympic support system. “It’s far away from home.”

After qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Gauff was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19. 

“Fingers crossed nothing happens to me at the last minute again!” she added. “But I’m really happy to have my shot at a medal. Every time I see somebody else with a gold medal, I want one so bad.”

Once she returns to the States, her boyfriend will have the opportunity to join her when the summer hard court season gets underway at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C., beginning July 29. 

From there, it’s full steam ahead to the 2024 U.S. Open in New York, where Gauff will look to defend her singles title. The tournament starts August 26. 

Gauff’s boyfriend played an instrumental role the night before last year’s U.S. Open women’s final — albeit from a distance. 

“I just called my boyfriend, and I told him let’s talk until it’s time to go to sleep,” Gauff said to reporters after winning the tournament, “so we spoke until 1 a.m. and then I went to sleep.”

While Gauff has kept things private for now, she has dropped some hints about her boyfriend in recent months.

“He’s a very nice guy. He’s in school now,” she told Vogue in March. “He’s about to apply for music school. He wants to be an actor and he plays the guitar.”

Gauff further explained how dating somebody outside of her bubble has done wonders. As she told TIME magazine in April, “To just have someone to talk to who is not involved in tennis at all gives me a fresh perspective.”