Coco Gauff pays attention to what people say about her online and occasionally takes pleasure in clapping back, so it should not be a surprise that she took to social media to type out a message after wrapping up her 2024 schedule by winning the WTA Finals and the $4.8 million check that came with it.
Wrote the 20-year-old American: “lol safe to say I beat the bad season allegations.”
After defeating the top two women in the WTA Tour rankings — Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek — earlier in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Gauff got past Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Saturday in the title match. That allowed the No. 3 Gauff to close her year with a 54-17 record and three trophies.
“There’s been a lot of ups and downs. At moments, it felt great. At other moments, it felt awful. Basically, a typical year on tour,” the Atlanta native and Florida resident said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
“The worst? Definitely my U.S. Open loss. I felt that was just a hard loss for me, because I double faulted so many times,” Gauff said with a self-deprecating chuckle. “It felt like I was close but just didn’t give myself the best chance.”