Coco Gauff has been doing pole dance for about three weeks. She told Vogue, and the sentence is simple: “I started about three weeks ago, but I really love pole dance. It’s my thing right now.” I read it on my phone in the changing room, towel still on my shoulder.
My cross-training is Sunday doubles at ten and a cone of chips at the clubhouse bar afterwards. For recovery. I’ve always described it as tactical pattern work. Nobody at the club has ever objected.
And note, the source is clear: for her, it’s a hobby, not a new training method. She enjoys it, she’d like to keep going. Full stop. She isn’t building a programme around it. My stats folder has had a “core work” column since 2023. It’s empty, but it exists.
What really spoke to me was the next bit: “It’s hard. I’m not very good at it, but one day, maybe…” That’s a club player’s sentence. I’ve been saying it about my slice backhand for four seasons. I say it about my strings too, which is the real reason, but that’s another debate.
She also admits to buying a guitar she has hardly used, and a keyboard. I have a second racket, never strung, in the boot of my car. Same profile. Two practice sessions away, mind you.
Core work is the basics. Me, in Kitzbühel, in ’92, I was already doing all that. Well, differently.
On court, her week fits in two lines: a win over Jessica Pegula, then a defeat on Tuesday against Linda Noskova, 6-3, 6-3. Two identical sets, I know them, that’s the score you take when the strip light on court 4 flickers. On Thursday 12 November she plays Marta Kostyuk in her last group match, with a semi-final place at stake. Me, Thursday, I’m playing nothing. But I’ll do some core work. Normally.
It’s true, we checked: Tennis Actu.
