Coco Gauff wraps stellar season on the court. Now it's time for her to cut loose

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Coco Gauff came agonizingly close to extending her stellar season at the WTA Finals.

If not for the vagaries of the event's convoluted round-robin play, one of the game's brightest stars would be still be around for the final weekend of the $10 million event.

In her fifth consecutive Finals appearance, Gauff won two of her three matches, as did Linda Noskova and Jessica Pegula. However, she narrowly missed out on making the semifinals based on set-percentage tiebreakers. She won one fewer set than Pegula, so Pegula advanced.

The other scenario in which Gauff could have moved on was out of her control. Wimbledon champion Noskova lost to Pegula after holding a match point, and that meant Gauff was eliminated from the event she won in 2024.

She rallied to win the last six games and beat Marta Kostyuk on Thursday in her final official match of the year.

“I didn’t want to be sad walking off the court,” she said. “Obviously with a win that helps, but even with a loss, I just wanted to still feel good about myself.”

It still was a lucrative week in the Southern California desert for the 22-year-old ranked fourth in the world.

Gauff took home $680,000. She finished the year with a 49-16 match record, including a title in Cincinnati (beating Pegula). She reached finals in Miami and Rome and semifinals in Dubai and Toronto. Her season prize money totaled just over $7 million.

At the Grand Slam events, where it matters most to the top players, Gauff was 16-4. She reached the semis at Wimbledon for the first time and the same stage at the U.S. Open.

“Anytime for me that I don’t have a Slam (title) in the season, it’s always going to be more to be desired,” she said. “But I definitely think I made pushes in areas and improvements, particularly in the grass court area. That was a part of my game I wanted to improve, and I proved that.”

Gauff has worked to smooth her once rocky road that included early-round exits, being done in by double-faulting on her serve, and dealing with public pressure as one of the most successful Black female players since the Williams sisters dominated the WTA Tour.

“My goal this season was to be more consistent,” she said. “I think that’s something that I can continue to build on. And the more I put myself in those semis and finals positions, I have faith that I’ll take more titles.”

Gauff plans to wear a smart ring on court next year. It tracks dozens of health and wellness metrics, including sleep stages and daily activity. She had it on briefly at Indian Wells.

“It tells me I need to sleep more,” she said, smiling. “I’m like really a night owl, and I can’t hide from my team anymore about how late I’m staying up. I'm just usually doom scrolling, that’s the problem."

Last month, Gauff was the target of what she said was an “insane” amount of racist comments and accusations of cheating on social media while playing the China Open. In her third-round match against Chinese teenager Sun Xinran, she stopped playing mid-point when a courtside electronic board flickered. The point was replayed and Gauff won, 7-5, 6-1.

The online backlash was swift, and an emotionally drained Gauff lost her next match. She withdrew from her next event, the Wuhan Open, where she was the defending champion.

“It was more like a mental thing after Beijing that I just needed to reset,” she said.

The United Nations' human rights office even weighed in, urging solidarity to push back against racist and sexist vitriol.

Knowing the heavy external stress Gauff is exposed to, her team encourages her to socialize more away from tennis. She was out on Halloween and she left the desert to attend Tyler, the Creator's Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival this weekend in Los Angeles.

“I am someone that when I am on tour, I can be almost too locked in sometimes or I’m not enjoying,” she said. “So I think it’s nice to have those breaks.”

Gauff will compete for the U.S. against Hungary in the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs on Nov. 20-22 in her hometown of Delray Beach, Florida. The competition offers prize money, but no rankings points.

She'll stay close to home in December, when she'll be a player-owner for the Florida franchise that competes in the new season of World Team Tennis.

Gauff is set to begin 2027 partnering with Ben Shelton at the mixed-gender United Cup in Australia in January.

“Hopefully, we can take that title,” she said.

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