Coco Gauff marks prestigious accolade by advancing to DDF Tennis quarter-finals

Coco Gauff may still be a teenager but the impact she is making both on and off the tennis court is quickly turning her into a cultural icon.

Time Magazine seems to think so, too, and named the 19-year-old American as one of their 12 Women of the Year for 2024.

Among the company Gauff has on this prestigious annual list includes Barbie movie director Greta Gerwig, Chanel CEO Leena Nair, and Yael Admi and Reem Hajajreh – two Israeli and Palestinian women whose organisations formed an alliance to strengthen calls for peace amid the continuing war in Gaza.

“I feel very honoured. I don't think I was expecting that, to be honest,” Gauff said after her third-round victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday.

“It's really cool, I'm excited. The event is one of the things that my tennis schedule allows me to go to, so I'm really excited to attend and be among some incredible women, just hear their stories from their backgrounds, and maybe try to apply it to my own life.”

Gauff has never been afraid to stand up for what she believes in. It's a quality that runs deep in her family; her grandmother Yvonne Lee Odom was the first black student at her high school in 1961, while her parents have always encouraged their daughter to make her voice heard on important cultural issues, which she has done to great effect.

Tennis, of course, is the platform upon which Gauff is able to amplify her voice, and her platform continues to expand as her standing in the game grows. Long seen as a future star, ever since beating one of her heroes, Venus Williams, at Wimbledon when she was 15, Gauff is now established among the elite as a Grand Slam champion and the world No 3.

“I like to say I'm more than a