American tennis player Coco Gauff delivered a powerful speech at a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest this week.Gauff spoke up at a rally in her hometown of Delray Beach Florida on Wednesday.The 16-year old, who is considered a rising star in the world of tennis, rose to fame at Wimbledon last year when she beat five-time champion Venus Williams in a remarkable run to the fourth round.The teenager demonstrated her maturity and has been widely praised for her vocal stance on social justice issues.Gauff said: “I saw a Dr.(Martin Luther) King quote that said the silence of the good people is worse than the brutality of the bad people."I think it's sad that I'm here protesting the same thing my grandma did 50+ years ago.“It breaks my heart because I am fighting for the future for my brothers. I’m fighting for the future of my future kids. I’m fighting for the future of my future grandchildren."I am not of the age to vote - it is in your hands to vote for my future, my brothers' future and for your future so that is one way to make change."The American’s speech ultimately had a resounding impact on her fellow tennis professionals. Kim Clijsters tweeted following the teenager’s speech: “Thank you for being a girl that my daughter will learn and look up to.“I promise that we will keep on teaching our kids the right think to do so that they can pass on too. It all starts at home.”

As well as speaking at the protest, Gauff has also featured alongside tennis players such as Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Gael Monfils in a video with the slogan: “Racquets down, Hands Up”

On Wednesday, Gauff also replied to a black square for #BlackOutTuesday posted by Roger Federer to his 12.7 million followers with a link to https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/#text that gives information to donation pages and other resources to look at.

The top three male stars, Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, had all participated in the Blackout Tuesday protest, but were criticised for not writing their own messages of solidarity.

Gauff added: "You need to use your voice no matter how big or small your platform is, you need to use your voice.”