At 19, Coco Gauff stunned the powerful Aryna Sabalenka at the 2023 U.S. Open to win her first major, capping a scintillating streak. (Photo: Chip 2094/Creative Commons)
By Larry Bivins
Ever since Coco Gauff reached the fourth round of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships as a precocious 15-year-old, knocking out five-time champion and idol Venus Williams along the way, she has performed under an aura of great expectations.
There was little doubt among the tennis cognoscente that this supremely athletic teenager would win a major. The only questions were when and how many.
The “when” came at the 2023 US Open where Coco, still a teenager at 19, stunned the powerful Aryna Sabalenka to win her first major. The victory capped a scintillating streak during which Coco won her first 500-level title in Washington, DC, and her first 1000-level tournament in Cincinnati before winning the US Open, all in succession.
The “how many” remains to be seen. But considering the fantastic finish she had in 2024 and her spectacular start to the new season, Coco could take home her second major trophy when the Australian Open concludes in a couple of weeks.
“I have the belief that I’m one of the best players in the world. When I play good tennis, I’m hard to beat.”
Expectations are high for the top American player, ranked No. 3 on the Women’s Tennis Association tour, to make a strong run for the title in Melbourne where she reached the semifinals last year.
Some experts are suggesting Coco might be the player to beat instead of back-to-back champion Aryna Sabalenka, whom Coco defeated for her US Open crown.
“Coco seems to be getting her mojo back and playing as well as she played, or close to it, when she won the Open,” said seven-time major champion and ESPN analyst John McEnroe.
Coco ended the 2024 season by winning the WTA’s year-end finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, declaring herself the best of the best. In winning the round robin event, she defeated the No. 1 and 2 ranked players, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, respectively. In the final, she beat 2024 Olympic Gold Medalist Qinwen Zheng to take her first WTA finals title.
For her victorious efforts, Coco took home $4.8 million, the biggest purse in women’s sports history. She finished the season having earned $9.3 million in prize money and landing high on Forbes list of highest paid women athletes in 2024.
Brimming with confidence, Coco has started the 2025 campaign on fire. She did not drop a set in winning five matches to lead team USA to its second United Cup title in three years in Sydney, Australia. In the final, she again beat Swiatek in straight sets and was named tournament Most Valuable Player.
After that match, Coco told reporters, “I have the belief that I’m one of the best players in the world. When I play good tennis, I’m hard to beat.”
Coco Gauff poses with the champions trophy after defeating Team Poland in the final on Day 10 of the 2025 United Cup at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, Australia (Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images)
But it’s not the first time Coco has started out on the verge of a breakout season. She began the 2024 campaign winning her second consecutive title in Auckland, New Zealand, then reached the semifinal at the Australian Open. She also made the semifinals at the French Open and won her first major doubles title at Roland Garros. In June, she ascended to a career-high No. 2 in the world.
From there, Coco’s season took a downturn, despite the honor and privilege of sharing flag-bearing duties with professional basketball star LeBron James to lead the United States contingent at the Olympic Games opening ceremony last summer in Paris.
Coco failed to make the medal rounds of the games, losing in the fourth round. She also was knocked out in the fourth round of the US Open. She had several games in which her double-fault tally was in double figures. And opponents began picking on an inconsistent – some would say technically flawed – forehand.
But much like the year before, Coco’s season had an immediate uptick after she made a coaching change following her disappointing performance in New York. She replaced star coach Brad Gilbert with Matt Daly.
During the Autumn Asian swing, Coco won the China Open in Beijing, for her second 1000-level title. She followed that with a semifinal run in Wuhan.
At the WTA round robin finals, Coco went 4-1, dropping a match to Wimbledon Champion Barbora Krejcikova, after she had already clinched a berth in the semifinals.
Coco ended the year with a 54-17 won-loss record. But since losing to fellow American Emma Navarro at the US Open, she is 18-2 and 5-0 to start the new year.
I did not get to see much of Coco during her competition in China and at the WTA finals in Saudi Arabia because I was somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean on a cruise ship. But I watched all her United Cup matches and saw significant improvements in her game, most noticeably a stronger, more consistent forehand.
Those improvements, along with indications she has spent a lot of time training, have tennis experts taking note.
“Coco is looking unbelievable,” said ESPN tennis analyst Rennae Stubbs on her podcast. “Forehand not missing. Serving well…Her fitness is through the roof!”
This could be the year Coco, roughly two months shy of her 21st birthday, has one of those Serena Williams-like seasons in which she wins multiple majors and seizes the Number 1 ranking, stamping herself as a bonafide tennis superstar.
I, for one, would not be surprised. In fact, I’ve been expecting it.
Larry Bivins has worked as a journalist in Miami, New York City, Detroit and Washington, D.C. An avid tennis player, he writes the Tennis in the Hood blog to instill a passion for the sport in inner-city neighborhoods throughout America.
