{"id":472265,"date":"2026-02-16T16:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/472265\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:44:07","slug":"coco-gauff-says-people-should-not-be-dying-in-the-streets-just-for-existing-in-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/472265\/","title":{"rendered":"Coco Gauff says people should not be \u2018dying in the streets just for existing\u2019 in U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

Coco Gauff<\/a> has said that she hates athletes being told to stay out of politics, after saying of recent events in the U.S. that she does not think \u201cpeople should be dying in the streets just for existing.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a news conference<\/a> at the Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates, Gauff was asked about the experience of being a traveling athlete and waking up to news from her country.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I\u2019m someone that likes to stay informed. Once I see something happen, I like to do the research on it,\u201d Gauff said in response.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, everything going on in the U.S., obviously I\u2019m not really for it. I don\u2019t think people should be dying in the streets just for existing. I don\u2019t like what\u2019s going on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In January, federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti<\/a>, a resident of Minneapolis, a few miles from where the Minnesota Timberwolves play. The shooting came less than a month after Renee Good<\/a> was also killed by federal agents in another section of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for me, it is tough to wake up and see something because I do care a lot about our country. I think people think I don\u2019t for some reason, but I do. I\u2019m very proud to be American,\u201d Gauff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think when you\u2019re from any country, you don\u2019t have to represent the entire values of what\u2019s going on in the leadership. I think there\u2019s a lot of people around that believe in the things I believe in, believe in diversity and equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, Gauff, who is a two-time Grand Slam champion at 21, was asked if she had ever felt she \u201cwanted to say something and (you) couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI never feel torn when I\u2019m asked a question. Obviously when you\u2019re in a tournament, you may not, like, come out and do a statement or things like that. But I never felt torn when I\u2019m asked a question because it is relevant. If you\u2019re asking me, I\u2019m going to tell you how I feel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At the Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina, U.S. athletes have called attention to the social and political climate in the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Freestyle skier Hunter Hess responded to a question about what it means to represent the United States by saying it \u201cbrings up mixed emotions\u201d and was \u201ca little hard.\u201d In response, President Donald Trump called Hess a \u201creal loser\u201d and suggested he should not have tried out for the team. Vice President J.D. Vance said of athletes: \u201cYou\u2019re there to play a sport, and you\u2019re there to represent your country and hopefully win a medal. You\u2019re not there to pop off about politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further athletes, including snowboarder Chloe Kim and figure skater Amber Glenn, have also commented on the intersection between sports and politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people on social media, on the other hand, like to say to stay out of politics, stay out of the things that are going on. You\u2019re going to be asked these things in press. People want to hear our opinion on it. Some players choose to say \u2018no comment,\u2019 which is also completely in their right. I understand that. Some prefer to state their opinion,\u201d Gauff said in Dubai.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing I hate is when people say stay out of it when we\u2019re being asked it,\u201d Gauff, whose grandmother Yvonne<\/a>\u00a0helped to desegregate public schools in Delray Beach, Fla., said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ask me, I\u2019m going to give you my honest answer. For me, that\u2019s my honest answer. I always try to always answer honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coco Gauff has said that she hates athletes being told to stay out of politics, after saying of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[690,99,1794,428],"class_list":["post-472265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-culture","tag-sports","tag-sports-business","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}