Except you managed to utterly keep away from your screens over the weekend, you’re in all probability nicely conscious that Coco Gauff is a phenom. Regardless of the sweltering 90-degree New York warmth, the American teen gained the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, beating World No. 2 participant Aryna Sabalenka—and instantly bursting into completely happy tears after her match level.

Gauff’s massive win—her first Grand Slam title—at simply 19 years outdated was thrilling for a lot of tennis followers, however her killer backhand isn’t the one motive she deserves famous person standing. Her affect goes past the court docket, and if the 1000’s of social media posts about her star energy are any indication, it’s her charisma and nice character (coupled along with her formidable sporting expertise) which have actually gained over everybody’s hearts.

Whether or not you’ve been following Gauff from the soar or began taking place a fandom rabbit gap after Saturday’s championship match, we’re right here to provide you all of the extra motive(s) to stan Gauff—a tennis legend within the making, an emblem of illustration, and an inspiration throughout.

Her immediately iconic victory speech.

In true legend vogue, Gauff thanked not solely her household and followers (hello!) however shouted out the haters, too, saying: “Those that thought they had been placing water on my fireplace, you had been actually including fuel to it. Now I’m actually burning so shiny proper now.”

She continued to acknowledge people who doubted her expertise throughout her post-match interview, as nicely. “I felt like individuals had been like, ‘it was all hype.’ I see the feedback,” Gauff mentioned. “Folks suppose I don’t see, however I’m very conscious of Tennis Twitter. I do know y’all’s usernames. I do know who’s speaking trash. I can’t wait to look on Twitter proper now.”

Not solely is it badass that an adolescent isn’t letting imply feedback mess along with her head, however the resilience, positivity, and poise Gauff exhibited in her speech had been fairly rattling cool to witness.

Her inspirational journey, from a fan within the stands to a US Open champ.

When you didn’t know a lot about Gauff earlier than this weekend, she truly first shot to fame after defeating certainly one of her idols, Venus Williams, at Wimbledon again in 2019—at solely 15 years outdated! However that technically wasn’t her first time showing at a significant match.

A viral throwback video circulating on-line exhibits an cute 8-year-old Gauff cheering and dancing from the bleachers on the 2012 US Open. Little did tiny Coco know {that a} decade later, she could be the focus as the gang went wild for her.

Her willingness to be weak.

Tennis is a famously exhausting sport, mentally, to compete in, and being in comparison with GOATs like Serena Williams and having all eyes on you provides a ton of extra strain and stress. It’s no shock, then, that Gauff has dealt along with her fair proportion of frustration and disappointment when she doesn’t carry out in addition to she’d hoped.