All tennis fans know Coco Gauff hails from Delray Beach.
Diehard tennis fans have been told, though, that Gauff was born in Atlanta, where her parents lived at the time because of her father, Cori’s job. It says so on Wikipedia and many previous WTA/tennis bios.
Well, it’s an alternate fact.
Gauff, the No. 3 ranked player in the world, was actually born in West Boca Medical Center, The Palm Beach Post has learned.
Candi, Coco’s mother, was in the Boca Raton/Delray area for her baby shower at that time. It was hosted in Delray Beach by Coco’s grandmother, Yvonne Lee Odom.
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As timing would have it, before the family party, Candi’s water broke and they rushed Candi to West Boca Medical Center where she had Coco earlier than planned on March 13, 2004.
“We still had the baby shower at Mrs. Odom’s house while Candi was in the hospital,’’ Candi’s cousin, Chenay Lowe said. “It was too late to cancel the shower.’’
The Gauffs lived in the Atlanta area until they moved back to Delray Beach when Coco was 7.
Fast forward to now. Yvonne Lee Odomo’s sister is Brenda Williams and Williams’ granddaughters are Cassidy and Courtney Lowe, Coco’s cousins. (Chenay Lowe is their mother).
The Gauff/Lowes will stage another family get-together in New Orleans Monday when the Lowe Sisters face off in a college basketball game between Dillard University and Talladega College of the HBCAU. Coco has mulled attending the game to see her cousins play.
The pro tennis tour is on its annual break and Coco has been in Delray Beach after a fabulous ending to her up-and-down 2024 season.
Coco won her first-ever WTA season-ending championships in Saudi Arabia in November to finish 2024 at No. 3 in the world. She had also won the China Open before the WTA championships
For the second year, she became the highest-earning women’s athlete, netting a reported $30.4 million.
While she didn’t add another Grand Slam to her 2023 U.S. Open title, she made the semifinals of the Australian Open and French Open. Then Coco teetered with fourth-round losses at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. She also failed to medal at the Paris Olympics.
The U.S. Open defeat spurred Gauff to split with her well-known coach, Brad Gilbert, and hire, Matt Daly, a former Notre Dame player who worked with Denis Shapalov.
On Instagram, Coco wrote recently:
“I’m so grateful for all the support the last few weeks. Getting to win the last tournament of the season and it also being my second biggest title of my career so far is insane. Wow WTA FINALS CHAMPION. All glory to God truthfully. I‘m eternally grateful for the life I get to live and to have moments like this makes all of the hours/sacrifice I put into this worth it. time to rest for a little bit but then it’s back to grind for next years szn.”
More: Coco Gauff making history as Olympics flag bearer. How her grandmother made history in Delray
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tennis star Coco Gauff can call Palm Beach County home for many reasons
