Coco Gauff recently won her second Grand Slam championship at the French Open. But after the victory, she revealed something startling about the trophy.
As a result of her own TikTok post becoming viral, Andy Murray resorted to social media to defend the American. Murray has criticized tennis officials for the way they treated Coco Gauff after she won the French Open.
The 21-year-old American star defeated the top-ranked Sabalenka 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 after rallying from behind to win Roland-Garros for the first time.
Since 2015, when Serena Williams won the French Open, the world No. 2 became the first American to do it.
She now hopes to build on her triumph at Wimbledon later this month, where she enters the competition as the third-most likely winner, after Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina.
However, Gauff did not display her prize on social media as fans might have expected in the aftermath of the French Open.
The trophy that the winners really take home is different from the one that fans view when the award is raised, according to Gauff. The prize they actually get to take home is far smaller, she disclosed on TikTok.
The 22-year-old compared her trophy to a bottle on a table.
‘This is the trophy that you guys see,’ Gauff said in the post. ‘The one that we take pictures with, do press with and all that.
‘But, actually, we don’t get to take this home. This stays with the tournament.’
Picking up the smaller trophy, she continued: ‘This is the one we take home. It’s like a mini replica of the trophy. It’s… really small.’
‘That’s how small it is. But, you know, it’s the memories that matter the most.’
Reacting to this, Andy Murray also wrote:
‘Surely the tennis majors can do a better job with the replica trophies!?’ he wrote. ‘They are tiny.’
