The basketball star who Coco Gauff said was her favorite athlete to watch

Follow us on Google Discover

Coco Gauff is not just a tennis superstar, but she is also a fan of other sports including basketball.

Gauff is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the US Open in 2023 and the French Open in 2025.

Not only has the American found success on the court, but Gauff is also the biggest earner in women’s sport.

While tennis has brought many benefits to Gauff, she revealed earlier this year that her favorite athlete to watch is actually a basketballer.

Coco Gauff said that Paige Bueckers was her favorite athlete to watch

Earlier this year, Gauff and other tennis players spoke to Bleacher Report, where they were asked a series of quickfire questions.

One of these questions asked the likes of Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner who their favorite athlete was to watch.

Alcaraz picked Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James, while his rival Sinner opted for Formula One star Charles Leclerc.

Gauff also went for basketball like Alcaraz, but instead picked WNBA star Paige Bueckers.

No player chose the same person, with Stefanos Tsitsipas picking pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, Emma Navarro selected NFL star Joe Burrow, Daniil Medvedev went for Jamal Musiala, and Madison Keys actually picked her fellow tennis player Gauff.

What Carles Leclerc said about Jannik Sinner last year

Sinner spoke about his enjoyment of watching Leclerc, and the praise has also been reciprocated from the Monegasque racing driver.

When speaking to Italian news outlet La Stampa last year, Leclerc revealed that he is actually in frequent contact with Sinner and planned to play padel with him.

“I like the simplicity of Italians; most of my friends are Italian,” said Leclerc. “I also like Sinner, who is now my fellow citizen (Sinner lives in Monte Carlo). We write to each other often; he congratulated me for Monaco, and I congratulated him for becoming number 1.

“We don’t get to meet often. But we’ve already agreed to play padel together, where I will certainly have great difficulties. But maybe I can make up for it if we do a few laps on the track… But it’s nice that we have the chance to build a relationship; I’m sure we’ll have the opportunity to cultivate it.”

It is unclear as to whether Sinner and Leclerc have had the chance to fit that game of padel in their busy sporting schedules yet.