Coco Gauff’s column on Emma Raducane’s play, boxing and friendship-building at the Australian Open

Coco Gauff, who rose to fame in 2019 at age 15 by reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon, is the latest WTA Tour player to write a column for BBC Sports.

Playing against a Grand Slam champion like Emma Radukhanu early in a Grand Slam isn’t ideal, but as my dad always said, ‘To be the best, you have to beat the best. I have to.”

To follow in Emma’s footsteps and win the Slam, we’ve added a new activity to our pre-season training: Boxing.

My fitness trainer wanted me to do some boxing to improve my balance, so I went to a gym near where I live in Florida.

I’m not a fighter – although I’ve trained with Mike Tyson in the past. If someone comes up and hits me, I’m out with the first punch!

Pre-season training was in a proper gym where professional fighters train, and whenever they came to watch, I would yell, “Yeah, my tennis tournament.” like.

I didn’t want them to think this girl was trash and would yell! I wanted them to know that this wasn’t what I was doing.

Some of them knew who I was – and I put on my tennis gear and made the point – but I want them to know I’m not cut out for this. I thought.

They were very nice people, but they were a little intimidating at first and looked at me. I was like, ‘Guys, I’m not doing this, I’m playing tennis. I am the furthest away from this sport.

Our boxing instructor is a martial artist and said he had improved in the three weeks he was with him.

When he told me I had improved, I looked so bad at first that I was like, ‘Finally it does.’

I also worked with my brother Codey, so I had a good bond with him. He thinks he’s a fighter, so I had fun beating him!

Adding other sports makes preseason more fun. Having grown up playing multiple sports, including basketball, gymnastics, and track, I wanted to get back to my roots and try different things.

Besides boxing, I also did swimming. For me, swimming is one of the things that exhausts me the most.

You can run forever and do many things forever, but swimming feels like it’s over in two laps.

So my fitness coach Stefan has been trying to find another way to tire me out and do some extra cardio because my heart rate doesn’t stay high for long.

Hopefully, I will be in this game for another 20 years.

Preseason is an opportunity for that, and a fun way to get things done. I think that’s what we found this preseason.

It was really hard, but it was nice to be away from the court and the gym.

Why I think finding friends on tour is important

You might think I was jealous or envious of Emma winning the U.S. Open at such a young age. It wasn’t. More than anything, it was inspiring.

I can relate to jumping into the scene and dealing with the pressure that ensued, but I think it’s nowhere near the level of attention that Emma has received.

After beating Katerina Siniakova in the first round in Melbourne, I went online and found myself playing Emma. I think she’s had an incredible career so far and is still finding her way with her tours.

She’s my age, so I always try to reach out.When she suffered an ankle injury in Auckland, I reached out to see how she was doing.

I always try to pay attention to the people on my tours. She thinks Emma has a great head and she’s doing very well.

We really didn’t get a chance to talk about things other than tennis, common interests, etc.

Most of the time she’s in a tournament and is about to go to practice, come back from practice, or compete in a game. It’s hard to really participate in those conversations, and I don’t spend time with her outside the court.

I think it’s important to have friends on tour because you’ll be around them every week. These are also your colleagues.

You don’t want them to hate you and you don’t want them to hate you. Who wants to be with hateful people every week?

My best friends are Caty McNally, Jessica Pegula, Christopher Eubanks and Taylor Townsend. Mostly Americans I know and get along with.

We have a fun group and support each other. That’s what I’m looking for the most. Someone who genuinely wants to see you doing well.

Of course, there are a lot of players, so you can’t be friends with everyone. Playing against friends can be weird. I remember playing Jess in Dubai and it was a horrible match.

I talk to Emma a lot, but I wouldn’t call her my best friend.

But no matter who you play against, whether it’s a friend or a Grand Slam champion, you need to block someone on the other side of the net. That’s what I have to do on Wednesday.

Coco Gauff was speaking with BBC Sport’s Jonathan Jureiko at Melbourne Park.

Coco’s previous column from Melbourne