"It is weird... I saw that photo of Rublev, Ostapenko & Medvedev"- Coco Gauff on 'existential' experience of the tennis tour from juniors to pro level

Coco Gauff is still wrapping her head around the fact that the same players that she met on the junior circuit years prior are now WTA Tour regulars. The American recalled a rather famous picture from 11 years ago while talking on the above subject following her fourth-round win at the Italian Open.

Gauff overcame a set deficit to beat a resurgent Paula Badosa 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals in Rome. She will next face Zheng Qinwen, who has never met the reigning US Open champion on the pro tour. However, the two did face off in their teenage years in the 2018 Orange Bowl girls' singles final, with the American winning in three sets.

Coincidentally, the then-13-year-old also defeated Diane Parry en route to the final of the ITF juniors' event. Considering how the latter is now ranked inside the WTA top 50 rankings, a journalist saw fit to probe Coco Gauff on the bizarre experience of playing alongside the same set of players on the juniors and pro tour.

"When I was looking at that 2018 Orange Bowl draw, your semifinal, you beat Diane Parry 6-0, 6-0... What was that like as a junior to be on tour with these people that you might have kind of handed these quite heavy losses to when you were not 15 yet?" the journalist asked.

In response, the third seed spoke about the famous New York picture of Daniil Medvedev, Jelena Ostapenko and Andrey Rublev from 2013 and how that gave her a lot of perspective on hanging around with her age-adjacent peers.

"Yeah, honestly it's cool to see your peers move up," Coco Gauff said during her press conference. "It's also kind of existential in a way that competition is literally going to be the same for probably the next 10 years. It's going to be the same crew of people, God willing everybody does well."

"It's very weird. Obviously there's going to be some newcomers coming on and new people. It is weird if you look at, I don't know, I just see old photos. I saw that photo of Rublev, Ostapenko and Medvedev in New York. I'm like, I don't know. It kind of put in perspective these people I'm about to be around for the rest of my life, playing each other."

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Coco Gauff: "At the end of the day we're going to play each other 10, 15 times"

Coco Gauff hits a backhand during her Italian Open 4R match

Coco Gauff expressed hopes of playing her peers from the ITF juniors' tour several more times in the future while also giving her opinion on the generally friendly locker room environment on the WTA Tour.

"At the end of the day we're going to play each other 10, 15 times. I don't know," Coco Gauff said. "I think at this point you don't have to be the best of friends, but everybody should be friendly, which I think that's the difference also between the WTA before I came and the WTA now. I think everybody is just like more friendlier in general."

Gauff will be eager to match her career-best result at the Foro Italico when she takes on Zheng Qinwen later on Tuesday (May 14). The American defeated then-World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty en route to the last four at the WTA 1000 event in 2021, where she lost to eventual winner Iga Swiatek in straight sets.