TENNIS superstar Coco Gauff sent a defiant message to her critics following a disappointing few months.
The 21-year-old has endured an underwhelming run of results in 2025 so far, having failed to make a final for any tournament.
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However, she is now back to showing glimpses of her best at the Miami Open.
Gauff opened the competition with a straight sets win over fellow American Sofia Kenin, where she did not drop a single game.
She followed that with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Maria Sakkari in the round-of-32 on Saturday.
After the match, Gauff wrote on the camera lens: “When I die, bury me in the sun – Fike.”
It was a nod to the lyrics from Dominic Fike’s song, Sunburn.
The hit is about Florida and references the hot conditions in the state.
On the match, she also said: “I knew it wasn’t going to go as smoothly [compared to the previous match].
“I didn’t want to think about it because this is a one-every-couple-years type occurrence. I was just trying to put that match in the past and focus on today.
“I think it was just one of those things that you would like to play the exact same way so you can replicate the same result.
“But you know any smart person isn’t going to play you the exact same way as they did two weeks ago after a loss. And she didn’t. She played different.
“I do think she played better today. I also think I played better than Indian Wells, so I think that was the difference.”
Gauff is next in action against Magda Linette on Monday evening.
The American is now the youngest player to reach back-to-back rounds-of-16 at the Miami Open since Garbine Muguruza in 2012-2013.
