Coco Gauff cited LeBron James, Serena Williams, Colin Kaepernick and Naomi Osaka as her inspirations after the tennis star wrote "Peace, end gun violence" on a camera at the French Open.
The 18-year-old overcame Martina Trevisan in the semi-final at Roland Garros with ease, recording a 6-3 6-1 victory to book her maiden single's grand slam final appearance.
That made the world number 23 the youngest American female finalist in Paris since Monica Seles in 1991 and the youngest overall since Kim Clijsters in 2001.
Gauff has not dropped a set en route to the final, where she faces the in-form Iga Swiatek on Saturday, but much of her post-match focus was on the ongoings back in the United States.
The USA is still reeling from a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas just over a week ago in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.
In the wake of the tragedy, multiple high-profile sportspeople, including Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, have called for changes to gun laws in the USA, and Gauff joined that list on Thursday.
"It's important, just as a person in the world, regardless of tennis player or not," the teenage tennis star said. "I think for me it was just especially important just being in Europe and being where I know people globally around the world are for sure watching.
"I think that this is a problem in other parts of the world, but especially in America it's a problem that's, frankly, been happening over some years but obviously now it's getting more attention.
"But it's been an issue for years. For me, it's kind of close to home. I had some friends that were a part of the Parkland shooting [in 2018].
"I remember watching that whole experience like pretty much firsthand, seeing and having friends go through that whole experience. Luckily they were able to make it out of it. I just think it's crazy, I think I was maybe 14 or 13 when that happened, and still nothing has changed.
"I think that was just a message for the people back at home to watch and for people who are all around the world to watch. I know that it's probably not [going to] – hopefully it gets into the heads of people in office to change things."
Gauff suggested her post-match scribble on the television camera was not pre-meditated and instead came after seeing reports of four people being shot by a gunman in an Oklahoma hospital on Wednesday.
"I really didn't know what I was going to write even moments walking to the camera, and it just felt right in that moment and to write that," she added. "I woke up this morning and I saw there was another shooting, and I think it's just crazy.
"I know that it's getting more attention now. I definitely think there needs to be some reform put into place. I think now especially being 18 I've really been trying to educate myself around certain situations, because now I have the right to vote and I want to use that wisely."
Gauff joins a long list of athletes that are proactively using their platform and audiences to speak on matters they feel passionately about.
As for her inspirations, Gauff listed the likes of NBA star James, fellow tennis players Williams and Osaka, and NFL's Kaepernick, who popularised taking the knee to stand against police brutality and racism.
"I would say LeBron James, Serena, Billie Jean, Colin, the list goes on, Naomi, it goes on really about those issues," Gauff continued. "I think now athletes are more fine with speaking out about stuff like this.
"I feel like a lot of times we're put in a box that people always say, 'Oh, sports and politics should stay separate' and all this. And I say yes, but also at the same time I'm a human first before I'm a tennis player.
"If I'm interested in this, I wouldn't even consider gun violence politics; I think that's just life in general. I don't think that's political at all.
"So of course I'm going to care about these issues and speak out about these issues. When people make those comments, I'm not going to be an athlete forever.
"There is going to be a time when I retire and all this, and I'm still going to be a human. So of course I care about these topics. Sport gives you the platform to maybe make that message reach more people."
'Palace can breathe a little easier after Ipswich win' - Mateta
Jean-Philippe Mateta said Crystal Palace can "breathe a little bit easier" following their 1-0 victory over Ipswich Town.
The Eagles recorded their first away win of the season at Portman Road, where Mateta's second-half strike was enough to move them three points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.
Receiving Eberechi Eze's pass in the 59th minute, the striker accelerated away from Jacob Greaves, before neatly lifting the ball over the advancing Ipswich goalkeeper Arijanet Muric.
Mateta underlined the importance of the victory, which he believes will give Palace momentum heading into their next match against struggling reigning champions Manchester City.
"The start of the season was not what we expected, but we keep working," he told Amazon Prime. "Today, we have the away win, and we are very satisfied.
"We can breathe a little bit easier because we were under pressure. The fans, everyone was on us. Before the game, it was a must win. Even when you score, you stay focused and the time goes slowly. As soon as the ref blew the whistle, we were so happy.
"Because of this win, everyone is confident. We can't wait to play against Manchester City. It is a good time to play them. We have to stay focused because they are a great team."
"Very pleased with the result," Palace head coach Oliver Glasner concurred. "It was not about performing brilliantly. We expected a big fight and it was a big fight.
"It was an amazing goal, an amazing finish by JP [Mateta]. We had two or three chances to take the game away from them and didn't take them. In the end, we had to be a bit lucky, but I think we deserved to win.
"When JP gets the ball in the box, he is such a good finisher, and it is usually a goal. We're pleased with our defensive performance, we didn't allow them a chance from open play - just one from a set-piece in the first half and one in the second half."
Ipswich remain in the bottom three and the only Premier League side still seeking their first home win of the campaign and Kieran McKenna is desperate for them to address that as soon as possible.
"A disappointing night and probably many similarities to Saturday [the 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest]," he told Match of the Day. "It was a competitive game, an even first half, not the highest quality game, and not our best performance here.
"But we were right in the game and started the second half better, but then gave away a poor goal, and we were not able to produce the quality to open them up. We're not happy with the result and didn't make it the kind of game we wanted to give us a chance of getting a result.
"We've had some really good performances here. We've not turned one of those into a win, and until we do that, this will be held over us [no home wins] and that's something we can't remove until we win at home."
AC Milan 6-1 Sassuolo: Chukwueze brace powers Rossoneri into Coppa Italia last eight
AC Milan made light work of Serie B side Sassuolo as Samuel Chukwueze scored twice in a 6-1 thrashing to reach the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia on Tuesday.
The last-16 clash was already over as a contest by the 23rd minute after Chukwueze's brace, along with goals from Tijjani Reijnders and Rafael Leao handed Milan a 4-0 lead at San Siro.
Davide Calabria added their fifth 11 minutes after the interval, though Samuele Mulattieri managed a consolation three minutes later, before Tammy Abraham rounded off the win in the 61st minute.
Chukwueze opened the scoring in the 12th minute when a Reijnders ball over the top put him through one-on-one with Giacomo Satalino, and after his first effort hit the upright he tapped in the rebound.
Reijnders drilled home from outside the area five minutes later and Chukwueze netted his second in the 21st minute, curling beyond the reach of Satalino after an Abraham lay-off.
A no-look pass from Ruben Loftus-Cheek freed Leao to score two minutes later before Christian Pulisic's lofted cross bounced off the post and Calabria reacted quickest to convert in the second half.
Mulattieri's effort squirmed under Lorenzo Torriani to finally give Sassuolo something to cheer about, but Abraham finished off the rout, tucking his finish around Satalino just past the hour.
Data Debrief: Rampant Rossoneri
Milan's victory came by an impressive scoreline, though the underlying stats suggest the 6-1 win was somewhat flattering on the home side's performance.
Indeed, the home side accumulated just 1.89 expected goals (xG) from their 15 attempts, but the quality of finishing proved too much for Sassuolo to handle.
Bayern Munich 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen: Neuer off as Tella header defeats 10-man hosts
Ten-man Bayern Munich were dumped out of the DFB Pokal following a 1-0 defeat by reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen at Allianz Arena.
Nathan Tella's second-half strike proved the difference as Xabi Alonso's side booked their place in the quarter-finals.
The hosts were reduced to 10 men after just 17 minutes, when Manuel Neuer received the first red card of his career after bringing down Jeremie Frimpong just outside the box.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Vincent Kompany's side created the better chances during the first half, with Kingsley Coman, Konrad Laimer and Leon Goretzka going close.
However, the visitors broke through against the run of play in the 69th minute, when Tella nodded in from Alex Grimaldo's cross.
Michael Olise almost snatched a dramatic equaliser with a curling effort in stoppage time, but Leverkusen survived to maintain their title defence.
Data Debrief: Nine in a row for Leverkusen and Alonso
Bayern had won each of their five previous DFB Pokal matches against the defending champions.
However, that streak ended here as they have now suffered successive eliminations after home defeats (also losing to Freiburg in April 2023) for the first time in their history.
As for Leverkusen, they have now won their last nine DFB Pokal matches and kept clean sheets in their last five - both their longest such streaks in the competition since at least 2005-06.
Meanwhile, Alonso has won all nine of his DFB Pokal matches as a coach. Only two coaches have enjoyed longer undefeated starts in the competition this millennium - Louis van Gaal and Pep Guardiola (both in the first 10).
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