Indian Well Open 2025: Round 3 featuring Coco Gauff vs Maria Sakkari…Why bookers think Gauff will win despite 21 doubles faults in her last victory…See details

What an occasion to be back in form for Coco Gauff! On International Women’s Day, the 2023 US Open champion finally broke her losing streak in 2025. After three consecutive defeats in the Australian Open, Doha, and Dubai, the 20-year-old beat her Japanese opponent Moyuka Uchijima in R64 of the Indian Wells on Saturday. But more than the result, her precious words of appreciation for two special people garnered applause from the fans. Who were Coco’s two special mentions?

Against Uchijima, Coco Gauff committed 74 unforced errors, 21 of them being double faults. But she also hit 37 winners, helping her clinch the match with a score line of 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4). She was relieved, quite obviously, to make it through the next stage, but she knew she wasn’t at the top of her game by any stretch.

“It wasn’t my best tennis at all today,” Gauff said, as reported by BNP Paribas Open’s website. “Just happy to get through. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, so I am just happy to get a win on the court.” But results aside, the American sensation took a moment to express her love and gratitude for her family on International Women’s Day. The first one was surely her mom.

During the post-match interview, when asked to give a shout-out to the inspiring women in her life, Coco said, “My mom, she’s been rocking with me. I don’t know where she went (looking at the crowd), but she’s been rocking with me the past few weeks.” Candi has been by her daughter’s side through thick and thin. Remember how she accompanied her during the 97th Academy Awards event last week? Describing the experience, later on social media, she wrote, “Love being the plus one!!!!” while tagging her daughter as well.

After receiving a loving shout-out from Coco in Indian Wells, Mama Candi again expressed her emotions as she shared Gauff’s post-match interaction clip on her IG story, writing, “@cocogauff thank you!!! 🙏🏾”

Moreover, Gauff mentioned her grandmother, Yvonne Odom, as another inspirational woman in her life. She revealed how she’s always had a huge influence on her. Giving her second shout-out to Yvonne, the 2024 WTA Finals winner said, “You know she’s a Stage 4 lung cancer survivor and also integrated one of the local schools in Palm Beach County way back when that civil rights era was there. So yeah, shout out to her.” Continuing further, she added, “She’s the reason why I’m so vocal on certain issues, and you know why I will always use tennis as my platform to fight for equality. So shout out to my mom and my grandma.”

But hey, it’s not the first time Gauff’s grandmother has received a special mention fromher. Remember how the young tennis sensation paid an emotional tribute to her last season as well?