WTA Finals champion Coco Gauff finished 2024 with more match wins and prize money in a single season than ever before.
She closed the season by winning 13 of her last 15 matches and earning the biggest pay-cheque in the history of women’s tennis in Riyadh.
"I remember after my loss [to Yulia Putintseva as defending champion] in Cincinnati, they have the TV on Tennis Channel in the locker room. I couldn't hear what they were saying but the headline was like 'Gauff's Slump Summer' or something like that,” she told WTA Insider.
"I looked at that and I was just like, 'Dang, I have to turn it around somehow.' And then I lost a pretty tough match against Emma [Navarro] at US Open. A lot of people were critiquing my season, you know, 'Flop era.' I know all the Twitter terms.
"I think for me it was just motivation. I'm the author of my own story, and I'm not going to let anybody write me off."
Indeed, there were so many times throughout 2024 when observers expressed concern for the 20-year-old star.
Whether it be over technical flaws – double faults proved especially problematic in her US Open and Wuhan losses – or her on-court demeanour or perceived tension with then-coach Brad Gilbert or her apparent struggles with the pressure of defending her 2023 US Open title, commentary was frequently negative.
But for the most part, Gauff simply kept winning.
She reached back-to-back Grand Slam semifinals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, the first time she has reached two major semis in one season. She reached the second week at all four majors in 2024 – another calendar-year first for the Floridian.
She also won the prestigious China Open and improved on 2023 by reaching four semifinals and winning 23 matches at WTA 1000 level; last year those figures were three and 18.
Gauff finished 2024 with 54 match wins, including four straight against top-10 opponents at the WTA Finals. In 2023 she won 51.
She finished as year-end world No.3 for the second straight year but earned far more prize money this season than she did in 2023, during which she tallied just under US$6 million.
Her 2024 prize money surpassed US$9 million, bolstered by that record-breaking WTA Finals champion’s cheque of US$4.8 million.
On almost every metric, Gauff has completed a stellar season – something she let everybody know about on social media after her stunning three-hour win over Zheng Qinwen.
She fired off an entertaining succession of posts on X (formerly Twitter) in which she embraced her self-proclaimed “petty” side.
“I think I just love to say I’m right,” she declared after beating world No.2 Iga Swiatek in the WTA Finals group stages.
She had every right to celebrate, for that win over Swiatek formed part of a significant week in Riyadh.
It’s where she became the youngest WTA Finals champion since Maria Sharapova 20 years ago, and where, after beating top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals, she become the youngest player since Sharapova in 2006 to beat the world’s top two at the same event.
She has now won seven consecutive finals and improves her overall finals record to 9-1 – including a perfect 8-0 in hard-court finals.
This makes Gauff the first woman in the Open era to win her first eight hard-court finals.
Despite all of these milestones, there are still plenty of areas in which Gauff can improve, something she’s excited to explore with new coach Matt Daly.
It means season 2025 could be even better yet – a scary thought for the rest of her rivals.