Coco Gauff will be eyeing a strong finish to another superb season when she takes on the WTA Finals in Riyadh next month.
She enters the tournament as the defending champion, with Gauff having battled past Qinwen Zheng in superb fashion in 2024’s final.
Gauff has returned home from her Asian swing this time around, taking a well-deserved rest after a busy period.
Her rise has certainly been rapid, but it was only six years ago when the American star first burst onto the WTA Tour scene.
Gauff made her WTA Tour debut in 2019 aged just 15, and started off with a fantastic victory over compatriot Cat McNally at the Miami Open.
What Nick Kyrgios said to Coco Gauff after their 2019 Miami Open practice session
She revealed one of the keys to her success when speaking after the match, having practiced with a handful of top players in the build-up.
One of them was ATP icon Nick Kyrgios, with Gauff sharing insight into their practice session in her post-match press conference.
She said: “I hit with Kyrgios this week. We didn’t play a practice match, obviously, because I would have lost.
“But I hit with him, and he told me that ‘you’re going to go far in this tournament’. I was, like, ‘All right, that’s basic’. He’s, like, ‘No, you’re really going to go far’. I was, like, ‘Okay’.”
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In the end, wildcard Gauff didn’t go far at all, losing her next match to Daria Kasatkina after that significant victory over McNally.
There was, however, no shame at all in falling to the 14th seed, particularly given that Gauff was just 15 at the time.
Coco Gauff explained why she really liked watching men’s tennis
While there was no further mention of Kyrgios, Gauff did share her admiration for men’s tennis in general during her time in Miami.
The American revealed in an interview with Tennis Channel that she is a fan of the show, leading to reporters asking after her win over McNally if she watches a lot of tennis.
She responded: “Yeah, I try to. I think I can get better at that, but lately I have been trying to watch and see what players do.
“Obviously I like seeing the women play, but I really like watching the men play, because I try to serve big. So I kind of try to see how they place their serves, what patterns they go to when it’s 30-All or deuce.”
Whether or not she is still keeping up with men’s tennis as much is uncertain, but she’s definitely more than holding her own in the women’s game.
Gauff just added another trophy to her cabinet at the Wuhan Open, while she’s already qualified for this year’s WTA Finals in Riyadh.
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