Road to the WTA Finals: At 20, Gauff returns as a veteran contender

At 20 years old, Coco Gauff is already a WTA Finals veteran. She is the youngest player at the year-ending showpiece for the third straight season. The American is focused on the details as she heads to Riyadh for her latest chance at the title.

"I'm looking at dresses," Gauff said in Wuhan, as she prepared for her next WTA Finals appearance. "They have a lot of things planned for us. I'm super excited."

Road to the WTA Finals: Sabalenka | Swiatek | Gauff | Paolini | Rybakina | Pegula | Zheng | Krejcikova

Meet the top doubles teams heading to Riyadh

Following the dizzying heights of her 2023 campaign, where she ultimately won her first Grand Slam title, at the US Open, Gauff's relatively slower 2024 summer had her looking for a shift in perspective.

With a maturity beyond her years, Gauff quickly regrouped, revamped and rebounded. Focusing more on process over results, she posted a nine-match winning streak during the WTA 1000 events in Asia, capping off 2024 with a flourish.

After briefly dipping out of the Top 5, Gauff is back up to No.3, exactly where she ended last season. A semifinalist at last year's WTA Finals, Gauff will try to carry her momentum from Asia to new heights at the year-end championships.

Season snapshot:
2024 tour-level win-loss record: 50-16
2024 titles: 2 (Auckland, Beijing)
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 2
Best WTA Finals result: 2023 semifinals

Defining moment: After a fourth-round loss in her US Open title defense, Gauff made team changes and went to Asia with a more experimental mindset. That she immediately claimed her biggest title of the year, at WTA 1000 Beijing, is a testament to her rock-solid mental and physical fundamentals, and she proved again that she can bounce back from challenging moments to return to top form. 

Social buzz corner: Gauff was taken by surprise when she learned from Christopher Eubanks that Team USA selected her for the honor of being the flag-bearer at the Olympics opening ceremony: 

And this year, she became one of the iconic athletes to get on the Wheaties box:

Finally, at the end of the regular season, Gauff visited the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City, and then posted a nearly-flawless 9-1 win-loss record in China: 

Notable stats:

• Currently leads the tour this season in percentage of return points won (48.6%) and percentage of return games won (46.3%)
• After winning both of her 2024 singles finals (Auckland and Beijing), Gauff became the first woman in the Open Era (since 1968) to win her first seven WTA hard-court finals
• Since the WTA 1000 tier started in 2009, Gauff became the fourth player to win multiple WTA 1000 titles before turning 21 (joining Iga Swiatek, Caroline Wozniacki and Bianca Andreescu). Gauff's WTA 1000 titles are 2023 Cincinnati and 2024 Beijing
• To begin the year, Gauff became the fourth player to win back-to-back Auckland titles, joining Patty Fendick (1988 and 1989), Eleni Daniilidou (2003 and 2004) and Julia Goerges (2018 and 2019). Gauff is 20-1 in sets in Auckland over the last two editions
• Moved up to a new career-high ranking of World No.2 following Roland Garros, and held that position for 10 weeks

From the camera roll: The Olympic flag bearer, Gauff enjoys the trip down the Seine with Team USA:

Hot shot: Gauff whipped a crosscourt forehand winner past Karolina Pliskova in Dubai to earn February's Shot of the Month honors:

Memorable quote: "We have a long way to go and I still have a lot that I need to work on and I'm proud of myself thus far. ... I didn't have a complete game at 15 and I don't have one right now, but I've been on tour playing every week almost, trying to be better. I'm just super proud of that." -- Gauff, after capturing her second career WTA 1000 title in Beijing