Too Much, Too Soon? Coco Gauff, 21, Already Being Hyped Alongside Serena & Swiatek in Flawed Comparison As Fans Reacts Due To…
Coco Gauff pulled off a notable feat by beating world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini at the WTA Finals 6-3 6-2 as the 21-year-old is the youngest player since Iga Swiatek to register 10+ top-10 wins in a single season since Iga Swiatek in 2022, and also the youngest American to achieve the feat since Serena Williams in 2002.
On Tuesday, Gauff was playing to stay alive in Riyadh since she lost her opening WTA Finals match to Jessica Pegula two days earlier. And the world No. 3 answered the call, breaking Paolini four times during the match to routinely get the job done in two sets.
Earlier this year, Gauff struggled in some big matches against the top-10 competition. But lately, the 21-year-old has been doing pretty well against the best in the game as she also recorded two top-10 wins en route to winning Wuhan just before coming to Riyadh.
Gauff’s reaction to beating Paolini
Gauff didn’t hide her happiness after beating Paolini to keep alive her chances of qualifying for the WTA Finals semifinal. The American, who had 17 double faults in a loss to Pegula, was especially happy with her serving against Paolini and the fact that she limited her double faults to just three.
“Really happy with how I played today. Definitely a turnaround from the last match. This is the beauty of this tournament, you can lose a match but come back and find a win. I was just trying to play relaxed. I knew today was important to keep myself in the tournament. Definitely happiest with my serve. I thought I served smart, returns were good, happy overall. I don’t think Jasmine was 100% today so I send her my well wishes. It isn’t easy playing singles and doubles,” the American reflected.
Gauff plays against Aryna Sabalenka in her last group stage match in Riyadh, where she will need to win.
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Jessica Pegula funnily responded to “ghosting allegations” made by fellow WTA stars as the 30-year-old says Iga Swiatek was not correct when she named her as a player that probably wouldn’t reply to a message, but admitted that Coco Gauff was fully right in her claim.
During the Halloweek Week and just before the start of the WTA Finals, several Riyadh participants joined Tennis Channel for a quiz. One of the questions asked was to name the player on the Tour who was most likely to ghost you – a term used when someone is not responding to a text message, arranging something but then disappearing, or simply withdrawing from all communication.
“Jess. I mean, she has like a million times. We’ve been supposed to go to the movies so many times and every time I’m like, ‘Let me know when you’re free’ and then she goes and sees the movie without me. But she is the one who initiated the movie and hangout in the first place. So, Jess. A 100%,” Gauff said.
Anisimova also named Pegula, as well as Swiatek, who explained her choice by noting that the 2024 US Open has a busy off-court schedule.
Pegula: Gauff was right but Swiatek wasn’t… Anisimova apologizedAfter beating Gauff 6-3 6-7 (4) 6-2 in her WTA Finals opener, the world No. 5 was asked to reveal how she felt about the ghosting accusations.
“I mean Iga even. I’m like, I respond. That’s not right. Amanda apologized, she messaged me, ‘I’m so sorry, I was just so tired. I didn’t mean to call you out like that.’ I was like dude, it’s not that serious. I don’t really care. Coco wasn’t wrong. She said she’ll let it go in 2026 though,” Pegula said.
Rafael Nadal still perfectly remembers his toughest period against Novak Djokovic as the record 14-time French Open champion admits the Serb made him go back to the drawing board in 2011 and think about how to end his dominance in their meetings.
In 2010, Nadal and Djokovic met only twice and the Spaniard won both of those clashes, with the last coming at the 2010 ATP Finals. In the next 14 months, they met seven times and the Spanish player failed to register a single win. All of those seven encounters came in the final stage of a tournament – 2011 Indian Wells, 2011 Madrid, 2011 Rome, 2011 Wimbledon, 2011 US Open, and 2012 Australian Open.
Nadal: I lost too many times to Djokovic in 2011… I had to come back and understand why“One year, I lost too many times with Novak. 2011, I lost the final of Indian Wells, final Miami, final Madrid, final Rome, final Wimbledon, and final US Open. And then the next year, I lost the final of Australia. So it’s coming back and understand what’s going on, why I am not able to win. Because it’s only one against one, makes the things mentally more tough, I think. When you’re out there, nobody can save you. It’s just you. That’s a beautiful thing of our sport too,” the Spanish tennis icon said during his conversation with NFL great Tom Brady at the E1 Series in Monte-Carlo Country Club.
In April 2012, Nadal finally snapped his seven-match losing streak by beating Djokovic 6-3 6-1 in the Monte Carlo Masters final. The Spaniard also triumphed in their 2012 Rome and French Open final meetings.
In the end, Nadal and Djokovic clashed against each other for a total of 60 times and the Serb won their head-to-head with a narrow 31-29 scoreline. In their last encounter at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Serbian tennis giant claimed a 6-1 6-4 win.
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