Highest-Earning Female Player Wanted to Become a Gymnastics Star But Her Mother Felt Coco Gauff Was Too Tall
May 28, 2026; Paris, France; Coco Gauff of the United States celebrates winning her match against Mayar Sherif of Egypt on day five at Stade Roland Garros. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images
May 28, 2026; Paris, France; Coco Gauff of the United States celebrates winning her match against Mayar Sherif of Egypt on day five at Stade Roland Garros. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images
Tennis star Coco Gauff’s athletic career could’ve looked very different. But a last-minute assessment by her mother, Candi Gauff, really changed the game.
Winner of 3 Grand Slams and an estimated net worth of $35 million, Gauff stands tall at 5'10. And in a 2021 interview with Pro Media and News, her father, Corey Gauff, revealed how it swayed his daughter’s path.
“We let her play everything,” he said. “She was doing gymnastics. I was excited about it, but my wife was like, ‘It's not gonna work, she's not gonna be a gymnast.’ I said, ‘Huh? You can't tell her that.’ But there are no 5-foot-10 gymnasts.”
Coco Gauff USA, Australian Open 2023, Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. *** Coco Gauff USA , Australian Open 2023, Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Copyright: xJuergenxHasenkopfx
Coco Gauff USA, Australian Open 2023, Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. *** Coco Gauff USA , Australian Open 2023, Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Copyright: xJuergenxHasenkopfx
Having a father who played collegiate basketball and a mother who did gymnastics and ran track, Gauff grew up playing all of these. However, gymnastics stood out extra special, before tennis took her by storm.
“Gymnastics was her first love. And then she ran track, played basketball,” he added. “She liked both of them, but it just reconfirmed her love for tennis. I think she liked those sports, but it wasn’t something she wanted to go to college to play or go pro in.”
With her newfound love for tennis, a young Gauff stepped foot on the court and never looked back. But she’d still put gymnastics at the top for a certain reason.
Coco Gauff Thinks Gymnastics Is the Hardest Mental Sport
Performing under the pressure where all the eyes are trailing your next move isn’t new to Gauff. But if she had to build an ultimate Olympian, there’s a reason why she’d give them the mental focus of an Olympic gymnast.
"I think one of the hardest, if not the hardest mental sport, is gymnastics," she told Olympics exclusively in 2024. "The balance beam event seems the hardest. And to have people screaming at you as you're trying to focus… So, I'm going to go with the mental strength of an Olympic gymnast."
While her height ended her gymnastics aspirations, it eventually led her to tennis stardom.
But do you think she’d have made a great gymnast? Let us know in the comments.
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Written by
Deblina Roy