Coco Gauff pays consideration to what folks say about her on-line and sometimes takes pleasure in clapping again, so it shouldn’t be a shock that she took to social media to sort out a message after wrapping up 2024 by profitable the WTA Finals and the $4.8 million verify that got here with it.
“lol secure to say I beat the dangerous season allegations,” Gauff wrote.
After defeating the ladies ranked Nos. 1 and a couple of — Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek — earlier in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Gauff acquired previous Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Saturday within the title match. That allowed the No. 3 Gauff to shut her yr with a 54-17 report and three trophies.
“There’s been plenty of ups and downs. At moments, it felt nice. At different moments, it felt terrible. Mainly, a typical yr on tour,” the 20-year-old Floridian stated in a phone interview with The Related Press.
“The worst? Undoubtedly my U.S. Open loss. I felt that was only a exhausting loss for me, as a result of I double-faulted so many instances,” Gauff stated with a self-deprecating chuckle. “It felt like I used to be shut however simply didn’t give myself the perfect likelihood.”
How did she put apart that 19-double-fault, fourth-round loss to Emma Navarro in September because the defending champion at Flushing Meadows? That is an essential query, as a result of as disappointing because the setback was — the place it occurred, the way it occurred — that marked a pivotal second.
From there, Gauff cut up from coach Brad Gilbert and employed Matt Daly to work alongside Jean-Christophe “JC” Faurel on her staff.
And from there, Gauff went 13-2 at her final three tournaments, together with two titles and a semifinal run.
“The secret is whenever you attain a low, the one means you may go is up,” Gauff defined. “So at that time, I simply stated, ‘Properly, I’ve to get higher at some issues, and simply attempt to do this.’ Being a tennis participant, you may’t miss a bunch of tournaments simply to observe — I imply, you may, however I didn’t need to do this; I didn’t need to take that route — so I simply determined to be prepared to just accept the losses and wins whereas engaged on issues.”
One vital enchancment: Gauff averaged 4.6 double-faults throughout her 5 matches on the WTA Finals, definitely a lot better than on the U.S. Open.
In Saturday’s closing, Gauff produced extra aces (5) than double-faults (4) and turned in the next first-serve proportion (64 to 62) and the next profitable proportion on first-serve factors (70 to 62) than Zheng, one of many tour’s prime servers.
There was not a factor that was straightforward about this triumph.
Gauff’s run included these victories over Sabalenka (within the semifinals) and Swiatek (in round-robin play), making the American the youngest participant to win towards the highest two girls at one match since Maria Sharapova on the 2006 U.S. Open.
“She’s a fighter,” Sabalenka stated about Gauff.
The ultimate was a critical check of wills — the primary WTA Finals championship match settled by a third-set tiebreaker, and, at 3 hours, 4 minutes, greater than a half-hour longer than any title match on the occasion since record-keeping started in 2008.
“Once you play this kind of match,” Zheng stated, “it’s not about tennis, it’s nearly selections on court docket.”
At this still-early stage in her profession, Gauff appears to be making good selections on and off the court docket. Her response to, and rebound from, what occurred in New York illustrates that.
As does turning into the youngest champ on the WTA Finals — which is for the highest eight girls within the recreation — since Sharapova was a teen in 2004.
“Taking part in the perfect of the perfect,” Gauff stated, “makes me really feel assured in my recreation.”
