"He has a natural physical advantage being born male" - Coco Gauff reacts to claims comparing her to high school football player

Coco Gauff recently responded to a fan who questioned whether it was reasonable to compare her athleticism to that of a 16-year-old high school football prospect they know. The 2023 US Open champion insisted that although male athletes have a clear physical advantage over their female counterparts, their performance depends on their ability to handle the pressure of competitive sports.

Earlier this week, the social media handle of WTA treated the tennis universe to a video of Gauff and World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz promoting the China Open in Beijing. While most fans in the comments enjoyed watching the duo exploring the city, one of them made an out-of-context reply that soon caught the American's attention.

The fan in question began by saying that they knew a 16-year-old high school football player who believed that he was a superior athlete to Coco Gauff. The comment also listed down the highest level of performance that the teen had achieved in exercises like sprint, deadlift, and bench press.

"A guy I know is 16 and plays high school football and says Coco Gauff is nowhere near as athletic as him. I disagree..." the fan wrote in the replies to WTA's post.

The 2023 US Open would respond to the above fan's comment later, saying that it wasn't a "flex" for the teen athlete to be physically stronger than her since men tend to have better athletic performance than women due to biological differences. She also claimed that since athletes train in a sport-oriented way, there would be many female athletes who could outperform him on the field.

"I can't and will never be able to do like majority of that so yeah bro's got me but I mean it's not really a flex considering he has a natural physical advantage being born male lol. But also athletes train in a very sport specific way so I'm sure there are women who lift what he does and also women who are faster than him. just depends on the sport. but it will be hard to find one the can do that all of those across the board," Gauff wrote in reply.

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Coco Gauff: "Lot of great athletes out there that just can't perform well under pressure"

Coco Gauff inferred in her further replies to the fan that the 16-year-old high school football player would need to deliver in a "performance pressure situation" to be considered a good athlete.

"Also in my opinion athleticism has a lot to do with how you can perform. He can do all these things but can he put it all together in a performance pressure situation?. Lot of great athletes out there that just can't perform well under pressure so we never hear of them," Gauff wrote.

Gauff is competing at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing this week. Having received a Bye in the first round, the fourth seed has beaten Katie Boulter and Clara Burel en route to the Round of 16 — where she will take on a resurgent Naomi Osaka on October 1.