"I’ve been beyond blessed, I am so thankful to have made it this far" - Coco Gauff celebrates 20th birthday with a trip to her 'natural habitat'
Coco Gauff received a flurry of messages and wishes after turning 20 on Wednesday (March 13). Gauff took to social media to thank all her fans and fellow players.
The American played her last match as a teenager against Lucia Bronzetti at Indian Wells in the third round, prevailing 6-2, 7-6(5).
Gauff then took to X (formerly Twitter), posting a picture of herself with the backdrop of the open sea, captioning it 'natural habitat'. She went on to thank everyone for their birthday wishes.
"20! just a pisces in her natural habitat I’ve been beyond blessed in this life and i am so thankful to have made it this far. thank you everyone for all of the bday wishes," Coco Gauff wrote.
In her post-match press conference, Gauff was asked about her feelings about playing her last match as a teenager. She responded that she does not take numbers too seriously, noting that every year could be the last of something.
"No, not really (smiling). I mean, every year at this tournament it's going to be my last match of some age. So, yeah, it doesn't feel weird, no," Coco Gauff said.
"I feel accomplished with what I wanted to do" - Coco Gauff on turning 20
Coco Gauff said in her press conference that she felt satisfied with her on-court achievements as a teenager.
"Yeah, I think so. I think just I feel accomplished with what I wanted to do. It's good when you accomplish a goal that's so big," Gauff said. "That's probably the only time-constraint goal I ever made for myself. Yeah, I think everything else is just whenever it happens it happens. Hopefully if it happens, it doesn't, whatever."
The youngster said the only pressure she had on her as a teenager was the wish to win a Grand Slam as it was not something that one could accomplish very easily. Gauff lifted her first and to date only Grand Slam at the US Open last year as a 19-year-old.
Looking ahead, Coco Gauff said she no longer has a time constraint on any of the career goals that she has in mind. That, she added, will allow her to play with a lot more freedom.
"But yeah, I think that was the only time-constraint goal I had put on myself, which probably is more pressing, because especially with slams, there's only four of them. It's tough to win one," the youngster said. "It's not something that you can just do, like, it's not like a 250 or 500 or something you have every week to play and you don't have too much experience winning one if you never won one."
"I think that was just one of the main things for me was to try to do that. I guess now looking next, looking at what's next, yeah, 20 is a long time to play. So I don't have any time-constraint goals anymore on myself," she added.