Who Is Coco Gauff Dating? What We Know About Her Private Boyfriend (No, He’s Not a Tennis Player!)

Coco Gauff has privately had the support of her boyfriend during the biggest moments of her career.

The tennis star has been open about wanting to keep her relationship private, explaining that it helps keep some parts of her life more special to only her.

“Honestly, it wasn’t something I got to set in stone,” Gauff told PEOPLE in March 2024 of her decision to be more private. “I think I felt like I just, some parts of myself I love to share and then some parts I think I just keep to myself.”

She added, “And I think that’s just the beauty of it all, that people still know me and know parts of me, but not everything. So I do feel like my life is a little bit in my hands too.”

However, she has been open about some aspects of her relationship with her boyfriend, sharing how he supported her during the U.S. Open in September 2023.

While his identity is unknown, she did confirm in March 2024 that he is not a tennis player, which she finds refreshing.

So who is Coco Gauff’s boyfriend? Here’s everything to know about the tennis player’s relationship.

Her mom was his fourth-grade teacher

Gauff’s boyfriend grew up in Atlanta, and her mother, Candi, was his fourth-grade teacher, Gauff told TIME in April 2024.

“My mom always said, if they’re bad in school, they’re probably bad as adults,” Candi told the outlet. “He’s always been a smart, nice kid.”

This is her first “real” relationship

Gauff has been dating her boyfriend for nearly a year, she told TIME, marking her first adult relationship, having recently entered her 20s.

“This is my first real relationship,” she said. “To just have someone to talk to who is not involved in tennis at all gives me a fresh perspective.”

He calmed her nerves before the U.S. Open

When Gauff started getting in her head the night before the U.S. Open finals in September 2023, she leaned on her boyfriend to help calm her.

She told reporters after her U.S. Open win that she attributed her 2022 French Open loss to thinking too much about winning and envisioning herself with the trophy, and explained she didn’t want to do that this time around.

“Honestly, I didn’t have any of those visions [of winning] till last night,” she said. “You know, I thought about it, but I told myself to get it out of my head, because that’s what I did at French. I was envisioning, you know, what would happen if I would win. I think I wanted it too much.”

The tennis star added that calling her boyfriend helped distract her.

“Last night, I started a little bit, but honestly, I just called my boyfriend, and I told him let’s talk until it’s time to go to sleep so we spoke until 1:00 a.m. and then I went to sleep,” Gauff told reporters.

He does not play tennis

Though her boyfriend is supportive of her career, Gauff confirmed he does not play tennis himself.

After some people on X (formerly Twitter) caught Gauff commenting on his posts, she confirmed that he was not an athlete.

“Some people thought it was someone in tennis and that couldn’t be further from the truth,” she told Vogue in March 2024.

In May 2024, Gauff joked that she appreciated that her partner wasn’t involved in the sport after seeing Challengers, a tennis movie starring Zendaya as Tashi, a ruthless tennis player in a love triangle with two other tennis players.

“I told my boyfriend, ‘Thank God you don’t play tennis,’ because [Tashi Duncan is] right, I would not want to date a scrub on tour,” Gauff said, according to an Instagram post from ESPNW.

Gauff quickly clarified that she wasn’t totally serious when she said that. “I was joking bruh plz don’t take this seriously,” she wrote in the comment section of the post.

He wants to be an actor

Instead of sports, Gauff’s boyfriend’s interests are in Hollywood, she told Vogue, adding that he is talented in both music and acting.

“He’s a very nice guy. He’s in school now,” she said. “He’s about to apply for music school. He wants to be an actor and he plays the guitar.”