After gaining international fame through her spectacular run at Wimbledon last month, 15-year-old tennis sensation Coco Gauff met, played against and received abundant praise from some of the biggest names in the sport.
But this week, she met former First Lady Michelle Obama, her “idol” and the biggest star of all. Obama tweeted her support for Gauff during Wimbledon, and Gauff reacted by saying, “[I]t was just cool to see that she knows I exist.”
Now, Gauff is in Washington, D.C. for the Citi Open. She lost in straight sets to Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas in the first round Tuesday, but she’s still playing in doubles with partner Catherine McNally.
And she found time to meet the former First Lady, and they had a fantastic autograph swap. Gauff, of course, signed a tennis racket, while Obama wrote a touching note to the teenager in her new book, Becoming.
Obama wrote:
To Coco,
I wish you courage, strength, joy, and love on your journey to become more.
Warmly,
Michelle Obama
More from Gauff’s Instagram story:
