Paris, June 3 (FN Agency) American teen tennis sensation Coco Gauff called for peace and appealed to end gun crime after her semifinal win at the French Open.The 18-year-old wrote the message on a television camera after she reached her first Grand Slam singles final on Thursday.After her on-court interview, Gauff walked to the camera to leave a message and wrote ‘Peace – end gun violence’ on the lens.Last week, 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman in Texas.
On Thursday, another gunman killed three employees and a patient at an Oklahoma hospital.”I really didn’t know what I was going to write even in the moments walking to the camera. It just felt right in that moment to write that. I woke up this morning, you know, and I saw there was another shooting, and I think it’s just crazy,” BBC quoted Gauff as saying.”I feel like a lot of times we’re put in a box that people always say, ‘sports and politics should stay separate. I say yes, but also at the same time I’m a human first before I’m a tennis player. Of course I’m going to care about these issues and speak out about these issues.
If anything, sports gives you the platform to maybe make that message reach more people,” she added.The American teenager defeated unseeded Italian Martina Trevisan 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinal. She hasn’t dropped a set in her six wins at this year’s event.Gauff, who turned 18 in March, is the youngest player to reach the final in Paris since Kim Clijsters in 2001. She’s also the youngest finalist at any Grand Slam since a 17-year-old Maria Sharapova stormed to the Wimbledon title in 2004.To win one of the four biggest trophies in tennis, Gauff have to snap the 34-match unbeaten run of world no.1 Iga Swiatek in the final.