Coco Gauff may have failed to extend her run at Wimbledon, but her successful journey continues in 2025. After accomplishing the French Open dream last month, the World No.2 ensured her place among the top nominees at this year’s ESPY Awards, presented by ESPN. And guess what? The 21-year-0ld American WTA icon managed to replicate a significant milestone from last year. The star-studded night at The Dolby Theater in Los Angeles saw Gauff emerge as the ultimate winner in a very important category.
On Wednesday, the annual ESPY Awards event happened with Comedian Shane Gillis as the host, which saw a plethora of athletes taking home top honors. To name a few, there were Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Simone Biles, the Philadelphia Eagles and Ilona Maher clinching the awards in different categories. Even Coco Gauff snagged an off-court title.
Gauff eventually won the Best Tennis Player Award at the 2025 ESPYs. Despite her entire season being underwhelming, the historic triumph at the Roland Garros seems to have pushed her into contention for an award along with Sabalenka. And now she’s received one as well – deservingly so. After all, winning a slam is no small feat, is it?
Coco Gauff wins the Best Tennis Player Award at the 2025 ESPYS.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 17, 2025
However, it’s not the first time that Gauff has been named the Best Tennis Player at the ESPY Awards. Last year, too, the 2024 WTA Finals winner ended up clinching this honor. Remember her sweet reaction? In her post on X last July, she wrote, “apparently I won an espy. thank you. I am super grateful! I wish I could’ve attended! thank you to every one who voted.” Interestingly, World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka was also nominated for the Best Player honor. But it was Guaff who was chosen, eventually.
Undoubtedly, this huge milestone will pump her up for the remaining season. Though her grass court run was short-lived, there’s still one more slam remaining in 2025. And it’s the one she captured two years ago. But the question begs: will Gauff be able to forget her Wimbledon setback?
Coco Gauff looks to make a solid return after her Wimbledon failure
For the uninitiated, Coco Gauff had a forgettable experience at the grass major earlier this month. In the first round, Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska ousted her in straight sets with a scoreline of 7-6(3), 6-1. It was a shocking upset for fans and pundits alike. Especially given the fact that the American had just won a slam in June. Hence, she was expected to continue her winning momentum. In fact, Guaff herself was confident of a turnaround at Wimbledon this time.
In an interview prior to the event, she revealed a strategy to do better on grass. “Grass has been trial and error for me. The biggest thing, I think, is just to be more aggressive.” But nothing actually worked in the match against Yastremska. After her sudden exit, she later confessed, “I definitely was struggling in the locker room. I don’t like losing. I just feel a little bit disappointed in how I showed up today.”
But now there’s no time to look back at what’s happened. Gauff will have to focus on the US Open in order to make a stellar comeback. What may boost her morale going into the hard court tournament is that she’s already won the trophy in 2023. She was just 19 back then.
Last year, she couldn’t go beyond the fourth round after losing against compatriot Emma Navarro. Reacting to her defeat, Gauff later said, “I think it’s also just kind of a mental hurdle that I have to get over when it comes with that. But, yeah, I definitely want to look at other things because I don’t want to lose matches like this anymore,” reported the US Open website in September 2024.
Do you think Gauff can regain her lost spirits and shine again on the court? Let us know in the comments below.
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