*Don't* Call Her Daddy: Coco Gauff on Winning Words
After improving to a dominant 6-0 against Muchova, the American star had lots of laughs.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — I only asked one real question at Coco Gauff’s post-match press conference after her semifinal win on Friday afternoon at the Miami Open, but it yielded two memorable moments.
The first, which I will use as a plug for my professional Instagram account, which I have hopes of ramping up a bit this year—please follow @benrothenbergwrites if you haven’t yet!—involved coming to the defense of Gauff’s hat, of all things.
The actual question I had, though, sparked what has become a bit of a viral moment on tennis social media already, so I thought I’d share it now at Bounces, too, even though I’d been thinking of doing something on the topic as a fuller story someday down the road.
A bit of background: on the ATP Tour—particularly among the American men—a parlance has developed to discuss match-ups in which one player becomes dominant.
When Taylor Fritz reached the fourth round of a major for the first time at the 2022 Australian Open on his 22nd main draw appearance—a drought that he’s long since put in the rearview mirror—Fritz said the moment meant even more because he won his third round match over Roberto Bautista Agut, against whom he had lost three in a row and five out of six overall.
“It means a ton, also, to do it against someone who has basically been my Dad my whole professional career,” Fritz said.
The concept came up again earlier this year when Ethan Quinn—after losing credit card roulette at the American players’ pretournament dinner in Melbourne—discussed his motivation to beat Tallon Griekspoor after having lost to him at the French Open and ATP 250 Mallorca last year.
Ethan Quinn: It’s funny, in the locker room a lot of times guys will talk about ‘Daddy’ status. When you lose three times to the same player, it’s Daddy status. So for me: I’ve lost him on clay, I’ve lost to him on grass. So playing him on hard, I really did not want to let him get the Daddy status on me. Especially the Daddy status with all three surfaces—that’s even worse.
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Surface Daddy.
Ethan Quinn: Yeah, exactly! Surface Daddy. I didn’t want all of that, so I kind of came out and had a little bit of pep to my step. I definitely wanted to beat him.
Quinn proudly said that he’s a Daddy to Alex Michelsen—a paternity which dates back to their junior days—but a son of Zachary Svajda.
Anyhow, all of this was in my head as I watched Gauff absolutely dismantle Karolina Muchova 6-1, 6-1 in their semifinal on Thursday afternoon, bringing her head-to-head advantage against Muchova to 6-0.
It’s a match-up that just doesn’t seem to work for Muchova whatsoever—Gauff’s world’s-best footspeed gets her to every one of Muchova’s offspeed shots in plenty of time—so I was curious if she had any commensurate verbiage for how the men would describe such a dynamic.
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Hopefully a funnier question: I know on the ATP side, a lot of the guys—especially American guys—have this term they use for when you beat someone three times in a row, or he beats you three times a row.
Coco Gauff: Oh my God. [Eyeroll]
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: You know what I’m talking about?
Coco Gauff: Yes.
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: You become their Dad.
Coco Gauff: Yes—no, say what they actually said.
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Daddy?
Coco Gauff: Yes. (laughs)
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Sometimes I’ve heard both, I’ve heard both versions. I don’t know how many of them enjoy saying ‘Daddy’ or not; depends on their comfort level.
But I’m curious: do the women have any equivalent concept?
Coco Gauff: No, no.
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Would you like for them to?
Coco Gauff: Um, I don’t think so? We don’t have anything like that. I don’t know. I mean, guys, I feel like they’re able to just—well, I don’t know.
I feel a lot of American guys are a little bit on the uppier side, so they’re able to say this. But for me, I don’t think of it like that.
I’ve also been on the other end of it, too. I mean, like Iga [Swiatek], she beat me so many times in a row, so I don’t want her to be considered my Dad. But I was able to reverse it—so now we’re both each other’s Daddies? I don’t know.
But yeah, I don’t think there’s a term, as far as I know, among the women; maybe there is.
Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Would you want one?
Coco Gauff: Yeah…I don’t think Daddy’s the term. I don’t think Mommy’s the term, either. I don’t know—dominatrix?! (laughs).
I don’t know. But I don’t want a term, because I’m going to be—I know I have some matches where I’m on the losing end of that, too.
So I’m just going to say it was a good day [against Muchova]. I’m lucky that, as I always say against her, I don’t know why the match-up is like this. But I’mma take it, but I don’t think it’s gonna last forever.
“Call Me Coco” was a New Balance ad slogan the brand used for Gauff years back; however many wins she piles up against rivals, “Call Me Daddy” seems unlikely to be a future tagline. (And I imagine that will be the first and last time I hear the word “dominatrix” in a tennis press conference.)
In the Miami Open final at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon, Gauff will face top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka. The two share a very sibling-like head-to-head record of 6-6.
Thanks for reading Bounces! If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe—for free or at a paid level—and again please follow my nascent Instagram efforts! -Ben
I think Matt Futterman is a good tennis reporter but I was very surprised he said that. I know I’m old school, but he crossed a line. Keep the reporter-player relationship professional. You’re not the players’ buddies or colleagues. Or you’re not supposed to be. Ben gets a pass because he was defending Coco, who looked a bit hurt by Futterman’s comment. It’s OK to ask a player about what they’re wearing, but to unsolicitedly opine crosses a line, in my opinion, even if it’s a compliment. It’s not your job. Frances Tiafoe can go up to Coco and say he thinks her hat is sick or ridiculous or whatever. But journalists shouldn’t. The relationship is supposed to be different. A little bit of distance is needed and helpful, especially if you ever need to write something about a player that they wouldn’t like.