Coco Gauff appears at protest as Rafael Nadal admits he would be reluctant to travel for US Open

Coco Gauff takes to the streets to express outrage over the killing of George Floyd while Rafael Nadal serves up a dose of reality as tennis plans on big-time return in just a couple of months.

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American teenage tennis prodigy Coco Gauff appeared at a protest in her hometown of Delray Beach, Florida calling for racial and social justice after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in police custody in the US.

“I was eight years old when Trayvon Martin was killed. So why am I here at 16 still demanding change?” said Gauff, days after posting a video on social media in which she pledged to use her voice to fight against racism.

Martin was an unarmed black teenager whose killing by civilian George Zimmerman 200 miles (320km) away in Sanford, Florida, in 2012 helped spark the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

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Coco Gauff says she is ‘fighting for the future for my future kids.’

“It breaks my heart because I’m fighting for the future for my brothers,” said Gauff.

“I’m fighting for the future for my future kids, I’m fighting for the future for my future grandchildren.” Floyd’s death on May 25 has sparked a week of sometimes violent protests and civil unrest in cities across the US.

Meanwhile, while there have been positive noises about the prospects of the US Open taking place, followed by the French Open, Rafael Nadal served a dose of reality.

Speaking via Zoom to tennis media, the day after his 34th birthday, Nadal was asked his thoughts of playing at the US Open, of which he is reigning champion.

“If you asked me today if I want to travel today to New York to play a tennis tournament, I will say: no, I will not,” the world No.2 told reporters.

“In a couple of months, I don’t know. Hopefully yes.

“We need to wait probably until we have more information about how the virus evolves, how the situation’s going to be. New York has been one of the places that has been hit most strongly by the virus.”

When tennis returns, it will most likely be without fans.

Rafael Nadal is not keen to travel to the US at the moment.

“I hate the idea, honestly. But if that’s the only way, why not? That’s my position. I don’t understand tennis without the energy of the crowd, without the passion a full stadium brings.”

While still in the grip of a pandemic, the US is also experiencing outrage and protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died while in police custody.

“I am of course worried to see all these disasters happening on the streets,” Nadal said.

“Violence and pandemics like this today create a difficult climate, a difficult atmosphere for the world. It’s important to stay calm, to respect everyone, to live together in peace.”

While Nadal is missing his Roland Garros stomping ground, he says there are more important things.

“I miss playing the tournaments that I like,” he said.

“At the same time I’m not thinking about that. First we must recover normal life, recover the freedom in terms of be able to enjoy our personal lives, then try to organise our professional lives.”

Nadal thinks tennis faces a tough challenge to restart, especially with some regions seeing rising COVID-19 death rates.

In normal times, Rafael Nadal would be in the middle of another French Open campaign.

“We can’t come back until the situation is completely safe and players from every single part (of the world) can travel to the tournaments under safe circumstances to compete,” he said.

“From my point of view if we would have a vaccine by December I would say that it wouldn’t make any sense to go back to play tennis now, I don’t think its worth it to take the risks.

“But if they say we will won’t have it until two years, then we need to find ways to go back to some kind of normality because the world and sport can’t stop for so long.”