Quote of the Day: Coco Gauff displays “human side” with gun control message

WATCH: Gauff discussed her camera message in press after reaching her first major final in Paris.

Coco Gauff was fresh off the biggest moment of her young career when the 18-year-old American opted to share the spotlight with a raging debate across her home country.

The newly-minted Roland Garros finalist is no stranger to speaking out on behalf of important issues, taking an active role in advocating against police brutality during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, and after defeating Martina Trevisan in straight sets, she took her opportunity to start another conversation with her message on the camera lens.

“Peace,” Gauff wrote. “End gun violence.”

The teenager was asked about the message at length in her post-match press conference, gamely fielding the questions with a maturity that belies her age.

“I mean, for me, it's important, just as a person in the world, regardless of tennis player or not. I think for me it was just especially important just being in Europe and, you know, being where I know people globally around the world are for sure watching,” she explained.

“I think that this is a problem, you know, in other parts of the world, but especially in America it's a problem that's, frankly, been happening over some years but obviously now it's getting more attention. But for me it's been an issue for years.”

On a day when Billie Jean King was celebrated on her 50th anniversary of winning Roland Garros, Gauff cited fellow athlete-activists like King, LeBron James, Serena Williams, Colin Kaepernick and Naomi Osaka, and asserted the importance that her fellow athletes feel free to share their views on things that matter most.

“I think now athletes are more, I feel like more fine with speaking out about stuff like this,” she said. “I feel like a lot of times we're put in a box that people always say, ‘Oh, sports and politics should stay separate and all this.’ And I say yes, but also at the same time I'm a human first before I'm a tennis player. If I'm interested in this, I wouldn't even consider gun violence politics; I think that's just life in general. I don't think that's political at all.

“But just in general, I think that I'm a human first. So of course, I'm going to care about these issues and speak out about these issues. When people make those comments, I'm not going to be an athlete forever. There is going to be a time when I retire and all this, and I'm still going to be a human. So of course, I care about these topics.

“Yeah, I think if anything, sports gives you the platform to maybe make that message reach more people.”

Gauff will get her biggest stage yet to share her message on Saturday in the final against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.