Pop Culture

Miami Heat fan Coco Gauff declares her loyalties for the 2024 NBA Finals

By Baseline Staff Jun 05, 2024
Pop Culture

Netflix to produce Rafael Nadal docuseries spotlighting final season, career development

By Baseline Staff Dec 18, 2024
Pop Culture

Fabio Fognini busts a move as guest on Italy's 'Dancing with the Stars'

By Baseline Staff Dec 15, 2024
Pop Culture

Call him Skol Korda! Sebi meets Coach KOC, Harrison Smith at first Minnesota Vikings game

By Matt Fitzgerald Dec 09, 2024
Pop Culture

Dev Patel to star in 'The Journeyman,' a crime thriller about tennis match fixing

By Baseline Staff Nov 02, 2024
Pop Culture

Coco Gauff gets "absolutely insane" mention on Tyler, The Creator's newest single

By Baseline Staff Oct 28, 2024
Pop Culture

Retired soccer star Diego Forlan, 45, set for ATP debut at Uruguay Challenger

By Baseline Staff Oct 22, 2024
Pop Culture

'Daily Show' host Michael Kosta to detail path from pro tennis to comedy in new memoir

By Baseline Staff Oct 21, 2024
Pop Culture

Serena the Swiftie! Williams attends Taylor Swift's Miami Eras Tour show

By Baseline Staff Oct 21, 2024
Pop Culture

Did Taylor Fritz just debut blonde hair at Kygo's show at the famed Hollywood Bowl?

By Baseline Staff Oct 18, 2024
Pop Culture

Miami Heat fan Coco Gauff declares her loyalties for the 2024 NBA Finals

Celtics or Mavericks? Her pick is in.

ByBaseline Staff

Published Jun 05, 2024

Her team might've been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, but Coco Gauff still has a personal connection to the squad she's picking to win for the upcoming NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks.

"I think I'm going to go for the Mavericks just because I like Kyrie Irving a lot, and I met him a couple of years ago [in 2019]. I'm not 100% for one team," Gauff said Tuesday at Roland Garros, while proclaiming her favorite team, the Miami Heat, will bounce back stronger next season after losing to the Celtics earlier in the postseason.

Gauff played basketball in her youth, and still was playing both sports when she made the junior US Open final as a 13-year-old in 2017. Her former athletic pursuit has been top of mind during the clay-court season: In Stuttgart, the US Open champion mused about what it might be like to guard superstar Caitlin Clark on the hardwood, and has formed a bond with another WNBA rookie, Cameron Brink, over off-court fashion.

Advertising

Gauff's team of choice has an uphill battle in the Finals, as the Celtics are currently the betting favorites. But if the team approaches the series like Gauff is approaching her upcoming Roland Garros semifinal against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, it will serve them well.

Gauff has won just one of her prior 11 meetings against Swiatek, last year in Cincinnati, and is 0-2 against her at Roland Garros. But the American says she wants to embrace the challenge head-on.

"I'm going to go into the match with a lot of belief that I can," Gauff said. "She's obviously No. 1 in the world, and she won this tournament, like, what, three times already. I think for me I'm just going in with confidence.

"When I played her in Cincinnati, I didn't go into the match thinking, 'Oh, I've never beaten her before, never taken a set off of her.' ... It doesn't mean anything. Maybe I could lose with the same score, maybe not, but I'm just going to go in and just try to win.

"I have nothing to lose. All the pressure is on her."