Coco Gauff finally ended her season like a fairy tale story. The world No. 3 returned home after an impressive achievement in the 2024 WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh. She defeated Qinwen Zheng by 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) in a three-hour thriller. It was the longest match at the WTA Finals since 2008 when times were first recorded. Gauff became the youngest player to win the WTA Finals in 20 years and the first American champion since Serena Williams a decade ago.
She started this year with promising performances after winning the ASB Classic. Unfortunately, Gauff had some issues with her strokes throughout the year before she finally rose back after making a change in her mentorship. She closed her story more than $4,8 million richer with a WTA title at every level. Will this victory be a sign of things to come for Gauff in 2025?
Coco Gauff Earned the Largest Paycheck
Coco Gauff set a statement-making run at her last tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She defeated the world’s top two ranked players, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek on her way to the final. Gauff then recorded an amazing performance against Olympic Champion Qinwen Zheng in the three hour and four minutes final match. Coco Gauff became the first American to win the WTA Finals title since Serena Williams in 2014. The 20-year-old also became the youngest player to lift the trophy since Maria Sharapova in 2004.
Coco Gauff joined Iga Swiatek as the only active player under 30 years old to have won a WTA title at every level. Her latest title completed two WTA 1000 titles and a Grand Slam title to become players to to claim all of those three levels of events before turning 21. Gauff also officially earned the largest paycheck for a WTA event in history after making a record-setting $4.8 million. The 2023 US Open champion has now topped the $20 million mark in career earnings. It was all pretty impressive for someone just out of her teen years and having hard times during the season.
Strong Motivation Saved Gauff
Coco Gauff was dealing with ups and downs throughout the year. The first half was so incredible that she reached World No. 2 in June. Gauff marked her best run at the Australian and French Open 2024 as a semifinalist. But, her achievement couldn’t last long after some issues with her forehand and serve started to emerge. She suffered an early exit at the Wimbledon, Paris Olympics, and US Open.
Her early exit at the US Open showed how the issues badly affected her performance. She racked up 19 double faults and 60 unforced errors in that three-set loss against Emma Navarro in New York. Gauff rose to her potential after making a change in her mentorship with her new coach Matt Daly. She won the 2024 China Open and was a Wuhan Open semifinalist. Her issues were not immediately gone as Gauff also struggled during her match against Iga Swiatek in the WTA Finals group stage. However, her motivation and confidence seemed to help her a lot to go through her hard times.
Gauff Ended Her Season With Big Smiles
Coco Gauff (USA) aftrer a 3rd set game winner againstto Emma Navarro (USA) on day seven of the 2024 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Coco Gauff received heavy criticism on social media for her performances earlier this season. She then proudly stated on her X (formerly Twitter) account how she handled all of those negative opinions. ““lol safe to say I beat the bad season allegations 😭🫣.” She also claimed that she had the push she needed from the criticism she obtained throughout her journey during this season. Winning the WTA Finals, Coco Gauff acknowledged that all of the pressure she got had pushed her to perform better. Now, she can look ahead to the 2025 season with positivity.
