“I loved reading as a kid and I kind of lost it when I got older,” said Coco Gauff back in June 2024, as reported by WTA’s official website. While everyone has seen Coco’s talent with racket in hand, she’s also an avid book reader. And Gauff has tried to keep her love for books alive despite her hectic schedule in last few seasons. And a big credit goes to Jalen Sera, her boyfriend. With him, she’s been able to keep up with her passion – thanks to a unique challenge. She’s having a dream run at the 2025 Australian Open at the moment, moving into the QF round. But she’s not lost her sights from the books!

On Sunday, Gauff beat Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 to advance into the last eight. It was also her ninth consecutive singles win this year, as reported by Tennis.com on January 19. After the match, she appeared for a press conference during which one reporter asked her about the progress regarding her book reading hobby. For the unversed, she had set a goal, previously, for herself to read one book per month. But then she got into a competitive mode, thanks to her boyfriend. Sera likes to read the amount of books as the year he’s in. For example 23 in 2023, 24 in 2024 etc. Which means this year they should be competing to see who finishes 25 books first, right?

While reflecting on her reading abilities from 2024, Gauff said, “I think I got like, 18 or 20 books last year, somewhere between that. This year I set the goal because my boyfriend and I, we set it on the year so it’s, the goal is 25.” But is she ready? “I’m pretty confident I’m not gonna get there” but “you know, shoot for the sky.”

So what’s the number she’s expecting to reach? “If I get to 20, that would be good.” Explaining the reason for why she might not be able to beat her boyfriend at this reading challenge, she said, “I’m off to a bad start because I haven’t read a single page yet this year because of TikTok.” Well, now it seems TikTok won’t be a hurdle in her reading challenge anymore. But how come? Thanks to the ban on the social media app!

Coco Gauff bids farewell to TikTok as it gets banned

For the unversed, TikTok has been banned in the US, owing to the decision of the Supreme Court due to security reasons. It had over 170 million active users in the country. But now it’s not available to download anymore. Coco Gauff got the news of its ban on Sunday after she won her fourth round encounter against Bencic. Before the actual ban, Gauff sort of knew she was about to say goodbye to the platform. When rumors of a likely ban were circulating, a few days ago, the 20-year-old didn’t mince words, as she shared her honest thoughts about her time with the app.

During a media interaction, after her second round victory at the Australian Open, she said, “Yeah, I am following it. Yeah, I feel like this is the third or fourth time this has happened, so I’ve kind of like, this time just was like ‘whatever’. If I wake up and it doesn’t work, fine. I’m done wasting my time.”

On Saturday night, the app had already become unavailable for many people in the US. “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now,” read the message to visitors as reported by CNN on January 18. Then on Sunday, Gauff got to know regarding the official ban. She mourned the loss by sharing a final goodbye message for the social media app. On the courtside camera’s lens, she simply wrote, “RIP TikTok USA” along with a broken heart that she drew.

But there seems to be a brighter side to this ban. Now, it appears she will get ample time to complete the reading challenge with her boyfriend. For now, though, her main goal will be to advance further in the Major down under. In the QF stage, Gauff will now face Spain’s Paula Badosa on Tuesday. Do you think the 2023 US Open winner will edge past Badosa? Let us know in the comments below.