Rennae Stubbs is not getting carried away despite Coco Gauff’s WTA Finals victory.
The 20-year-old found herself a game away from losing the championship match to Olympic gold medalist Qinwen Zheng.
But the American battled back from the brink to prevail 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) in Saturday’s thrilling three-hour contest.
As a result, Gauff claimed her third title of the season and a sum of $4.805 million in prize money, the largest fee in women’s tennis history.
What question mark does Rennae Stubbs have about Coco Gauff after the WTA Finals?
Coco Gauff had plenty of critics during the summer where she did not go beyond the fourth round in five successive events.
This culminated with the 20-year-old failing to defend the US Open title, after losing to Emma Navarro in the last 16. But since that defeat, Gauff has lost just twice, won two titles and regained the World number three ranking.
Despite her success in Riyadh, Rennae Stubbs, who has watched Gauff closely this season, is still worried about Gauff’s issue with double faults, and claimed she had the benefit of playing indoors at the WTA Finals in regards to serving more consistently.
“I feel the same about her now as I did after the US Open. Because she wasn’t doing the double faults or missing the forehand during that period of the hard court season,” Stubbs said on the self-titled Rennae Stubbs podcast.
“Then all of a sudden pressure got on her. But this is where technique is very important, particular on serve. When she gets nervous, playing outdoors is a lot different to playing indoors, if she is double faulting indoors that’s a major, major problem.
“Now the variables come in, is the wind behind her back and pushing the ball forward on her toss? Is it the sun? Can she vary this or that? You have to be able to adjust outdoors. That will be a question mark still. But if she gets that under control – good luck!”
Coco Gauff becomes youngest WTA Finals winner in 20 years
Gauff’s WTA Finals victory meant she became the youngest player to win the title since Maria Sharapova in 2004.
That year the Russian overcame Serena Williams for the second and final time in her career to lift the trophy.
That was the year Gauff was born and two decades later she was one of the youngest players to play for the WTA Finals crown along with Zheng, since Sharapova defeated Williams.
“This means a lot to me,” said Gauff. “This is the first professional women’s tennis event here in Saudi Arabia and I’ll forever be etched in history in that standard.”
She also told Sky Sports, she said: “That was a great match. I was just trying my best to hang in there and I never gave up.”
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