Coco Gauff shows true colours after demanding ‘respect’ from Australian Open crowd | Tennis | Sport

Coco Gauff has shown her generosity by making a significant donation to charity with the aim of helping young athletes in the United States. It comes after the American sent a pointed message to the crowd at the Australian Open following her win over Hailey Baptiste in round three. The fans at Margaret Court Arena applauded her comments in the aftermath of her 3-6 6-0 6-3 triumph on Friday.

Gauff demanded respect for her beaten opponent after she was hecked in the third set, saying: “Hailey’s a great competitor, so to the guy who made that comment. We’re all doing our best out here. A lot of people believe in her, so I understand you’re trying to root for me, but let’s be respectful. We’re all trying our best.”

It was an admirable comment from Gauff, who was quick to stand up for Baptiste in the face of disrespect from a very small minority in the crowd.

Now, it has emerged that she has shown her good character once more by donating a huge sum of money to a charitable organisation.

Gauff recently gifted $150,000 (£110,697) to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), a non-profit organisation that funds scholarships for black college and university students.

The donation marks her second major contribution to the UNCF. Last year, she donated $100,000 (£73,798), bringing her total gifts to $250,000 (£184,495) to support the Coco Gauff Scholarship Programme.

Her namesake foundation supports HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) student-tennis players. She was quizzed on what the cause meant to her at the Australian Open earlier this week.

“Yeah, it’s super important to me,” said Gauff. “I think if I didn’t play tennis, I would have loved to attend an HBCU. I have families members on both sides.

“Both my grandmothers went to HBCUs, uncle and aunt went to HBCU, and growing up just attending, going to HBCU Classic games and things like that.

“Yeah, I think, for me, it was just important to support that cause, especially in tennis. I feel like HBCU tennis a lot of times doesn’t get the funding that they need.

“So for me, I would just always try to uplift, like I said in the previous question, marginalised communities and, you know, put things, support where I can.

“Yeah, I hope it goes to students who really need it, and, well, it will go to students who need it. Yeah, I’m happy that I was able to do this for the second year in a row.”