Coco Gauff’s WTA Finals title ends her season with a $4.8 million check and a big turnaround

Coco Gauff pays attention to what people say about her online and likes to clap back every now and then, so it should come as no surprise that she took to social media to type up a message after closing out 2024 with a win the WTA finals and the $4.8 million check that came with it.

“I can safely say that I have defeated the accusations of the bad season,” Gauff wrote.

After beating the women at numbers 1 and 2 – Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek – earlier in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Gauff passed by Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the title match on Saturday. This allowed No. 3 Gauff to finish her year with a 54-17 record and three trophies.

‘That happened lots of ups and downs. At times it felt great. At other times it felt terrible. In short, a typical year on tour,” the 20-year-old Floridian said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

“The worst? Definitely my loss at the US Open. I just thought that was a tough loss for me because I was making double faults so often,” Gauff said with a self-deprecating chuckle. “I felt like I was close, but just didn’t give myself the best chance.”

How did she put that aside 19 double faults, fourth round loss to Emma Navarro in September as defending champion at Flushing Meadows? That’s an important question, because as disappointing as the setback was – where it happened, how it happened – it was a pivotal moment.

From there, Gauff split from coach Brad Gilbert and hired Matt Daly to work alongside Jean-Christophe “JC” Faurel on her team.

And from there, Gauff went 13-2 in her last three tournaments, including two titles and a semifinal.

“The key is that when you hit rock bottom, you can only go up,” Gauff explains. “So at that point I just said, ‘Well, I have to get better at some things, and I’m just trying to do that.’ As a tennis player you can’t miss a bunch of tournaments just to practice. You can, but I didn’t want to go that route, so I just decided to be willing to accept the losses and wins while I worked on things .

So far, so good.

One significant improvement: Gauff averaged 4.6 double faults in her five matches at the WTA Finals, certainly much better than at the US Open.

In Saturday’s final, Gauff produced more aces (five) than double faults (four) and achieved a higher first-serve percentage (64 to 62) and a higher first-serve point winning percentage (70 to 62) than Zheng . one of the best servers on the tour.

There was nothing easy about this triumph.

Gauff’s streak included wins over Sabalenka (in the semifinals) and Swiatek (in round-robin play), making the American the youngest player to win against the top two women at a single tournament since Maria Sharapova at the 2006 US Open .

“She’s a fighter,” Sabalenka said of Gauff.

The final was a serious test of will: the first WTA Finals championship match was settled by a third-set tiebreak, and at 3 hours and 4 minutes, more than half an hour longer than any title match at the event since its recording. started in 2008.

“When you play this kind of match,” Zheng said, “it’s not about tennis, it’s about choices on the court.”

At this early stage in her career, Gauff appears to be making good choices both on and off the field. Her response and response to what happened in New York illustrates that.

As does becoming the youngest champion at the WTA Finals – which features the top eight women in the game – since Sharapova was a teenager in 2004.

“Playing the best of the best,” Gauff said, “gives me confidence in my game.”

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich

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