American tennis player Caty McNally, 20, says everything has remained perfectly fine between her and Cori Gauff even though they are not playing together anymore.
At last year’s US Open, McNally and Gauff fell just short of winning it all as they ended runners-up in the final.
McNally and Gauff have played just four times this season – they haven’t played together since late March.
Now, Gauff is playing with another American, Jessica Pegula.
Last week, Gauff and Pegula won a WTA 1000 event in Toronto.
Following her Toronto triumph, Gauff became the new top-ranked doubles player in the world.
“I thought it was incredible. Yeah, no, I reached out to Coco and congratulated her on that milestone,” McNally said, per Sportskeeda. “I honestly didn’t know, like, that match like if she won it she was going to get World No. 1.”
McNally: I still have a great friendship with Gauff
“Coco and I, yeah, like we are not playing right now, as everyone has probably seen, but we still have a great friendship,” McNally added. “I still consider her one of my best friends on tour. We still support each other through the ups and downs.”
On Monday, McNally made a winning start to her Cincinnati singles campaign by beating Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3 3-6 7-6 (2).
During her post-mathc press conference, McNally revealed that Gauff texted her before and after the match.
“She texted me this morning, ‘Good luck’. She texted me after my match, ‘Congratulations’. No matter what, yeah, Coco, it’s not only on the court; it’s an off-the-court thing too.”
Gauff and McNally fell just short of winning it all at the US Open last year.
In the final, Gauff and McNally suffered a three-set defeat to Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai.
As a pair, Gauff and McNally have three titles together.