BERLIN -- What started out as a standard autograph session for Coco Gauff turned into an emotional moment for a fan at the ecotrans Ladies Open.
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Seeded No.1 in Berlin, Gauff met Maurice, a young German fan who runs one of her fan pages. The meeting was set up by Gauff's hitting partner.
"He DM'd my hitting partner saying 'Oh, I'm going to be here'," Gauff told reporters after her opening win over Ekaterina Alexandrova on Thursday. "I was hoping he would come up to me."
Maurice introduced himself during Gauff's autograph session on Wednesday.
"This was my dream," the young fan said. "I'm so happy."
"He was very shy at first and I could see that he was starting to get emotional and I was starting to cry," Gauff said. As the emotions welled up, Gauff gave him a hug.
"Luckily, no tear fell, his eyes just watered."But if a tear fell I would have cried because it's just amazing how much what you do can have an impact on someone. The fact that he feels so happy for me just to say hello, just gave me so much emotion and it's why I do it.
"His mom was there and she was really happy. Just for me to give someone that joy, I don't know what his trials are in his life, just for me to have an impact in that way means a lot to me.
"I've been talking to him online and hopefully I can try to see him again this week."