"Tighten up before I tell your mom" - Coco Gauff issues savage response to 'decent at tennis' remark

Coco Gauff recently replied with a stinging message to an individual who appeared to question the WTA No. 2 over her tennis abilities. The two-time singles Major champion took a swipe over the individual's age. She also urged the individual to behave more maturely.

Gauff is currently in London, preparing for her campaign at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. The 21-year-old, an avid TikTok user, recently took to the social media platform and posted a video featuring herself and a friend. In the brief video, the pair posed and danced on the streets of London. Gauff captioned the post:

"Pretty gals in London"

View on TikTok

Not long after Coco Gauff posted the video, another TikTok user entered the comments section and criticized how the WTA No. 2 and her friend looked in the video. The user also called Gauff "decent at tennis".

Clearly irked by the user's comment, the 10-time career singles titlist fired back, writing:

"Girl you're 12 lying abt being 21, tighten up before I tell your mom"

Gauff's response to the user on TikTok (Source: TikTok/cocogauff)

Last year, Gauff had opened up on her strategy of dealing with trolls on social media.

Coco Gauff's platform-based approach to keeping social media trolls at bay

Tennis players are no strangers to facing online criticism and hate, and in August 2024, Coco Gauff laid bare how she deals with trolls on a platform-to-platform basis. Gauff disclosed she uses burner accounts to prevent herself from being subjected to relentless criticism.

"Usually Twitter I'm not on as much. Instagram, I'll be on and give myself, like, 24 hours. I'll be on my Instagram until maybe end of tomorrow, and then I'll not be on it. Well, on my main account. I do have burners so then I don't see any of the tennis stuff," Gauff said.

"TikTok I'm on most of the time, but I also do have a burner, so I don't see any tennis. I'm on social media all the time. It's just whether I'm on my actual account or not. But Twitter is the only one that I'm not on at all because even with the burner, I don't know, the phone hears me speak, and I don't know. My name comes up. I don't know if that's a real thing, but I believe in it," she added.

On the tennis front, the newly-crowned French Open champion's most recent competitive outing came at the Berlin Tennis Open, where she suffered a second-round upset at the hands of Wang Xinyu.

About the author

Sudipto is a Tennis journalist at Sportskeeda holding a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. He has an experience of 3+ years across the market research, travel, health, lifestyle and sports sectors.

Sudipto has followed Tennis since the early 2000s and stays up-to-date with the sport by following both active and former Tennis players, and seasoned journalists. He also follows ATP and WTA updates, watches documentaries and interviews of professionals, and only reads esteemed publications. He sources all information for his articles only from credible publications stays away from unsubstantiated claims. In just a matter of 3 months, he has gained a readership of almost 2 million at Sportskeeda!

Sudipto admires Rafael Nadal for his fiercely competitive on-court nature and his ability to make memorable comebacks after injury layoffs. The Spaniard may be the GOAT for him, but he also respects the accomplishments of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

Beyond Tennis, Sudipto also has an interest in music, football, and video games alongside cooking and traveling.

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Edited by Sudipto Pati