Gauff Poppin' Off

Opinion

Later Haters ✌🏼

Remember when your coach yelled, “finish strong!” towards the end of practice? Last week Coco Gauff responded, “🫡” and finished her season with a bang, winning the WTA Finals in Riyadh.

But this wasn’t just any ol’ title for Gauff. The win is significant for a few reasons:

1. The end of year finals is the creme of the crop. Since it’s only the top 8 players in the world, every match mimics a grand slam semi or final. Coming out on top of this field is a huge achievement

2. She beat Sabalenka (No. 1) and Swiatek (No. 2) in the same tournament, which is extremely rare. If that wasn’t impressive enough, she did it on a fast, indoor hard court, which is arguably her worst surface

3. Lastly, she silenced the haters. All year, the overwhelming narrative around Coco has been negative. Critics have written off this year as a bad season, that she needs to split from coach Brad Gilbert (which she did), that her serve and forehand need serious make-overs, and more. With the win, she re-wrote the script, solidified by this tweet:

Now that it’s the off season, Gauff has time to work on her game with new coach Matt Daly, who clearly has made an instant impact. Daly has not only worked with many top pros, but also specializes in helping players make grip changes. He even started a business called GripMD.

My take? Gauff is only 20 years old, and is already the 3rd best player in the world. Many of her losses are self-inflicted due to double faults and a shaky forehand. So she’s doing the right thing, albeit probably painful, in making grip adjustments. If the last two tournaments are any indication of progress, then there’s a second grand slam trophy with Gauff’s name on it in 2025.

C’mon Coco, keep silencing everyone drinking hatorade 🤫

Trivia

When the WTA rankings were introduced in 1975, who was the first player ever to be ranked World No. 1?

A. Martina Navratilova

B. Billie Jean King

C. Tracy Austin

D. Chris Evert

Find out at the bottom!

Meet the Player

Flavio Cobolli

From: Italy 🇮🇹

Best Slam Result: 3rd Round

Career High Ranking: 30

Fun Fact: Has a tattoo in Italian that means, “You are my only wife, you are my only love.”

Game Analysis: Flavio plays explosive tennis, highlighted by his ability to crush groundstrokes on both sides. Paired with Alcaraz-like speed and athleticism, it’s no wonder how the 22 year old already cracked the top 50. That said, he can improve on his rally tolerance and shot selection — both of which will come with more losses to Medvedev experience on the tour.

Career Prediction: Flavio has the game to be a staple in the top 20 for years to come. I even think he’s got a slam semi-final appearance in his future too.

Shot of the Week

“Youthful Exuberance”

Nick Kyrgios became an overnight sensation when he stunned Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014. If you asked what was going on in his head during that match, I bet he’d say, “nothing”, because he was in that tiny space where mental clarity, effortless focus and muscle memory all line up.

The shot above proves it. Enjoy 😎

News

Headlines From the Tours

🥹 Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka ended the year ranked World No. 1. Not only did the Belarusian surpass Swiatek, who held the spot for the last 2.5 years, she also became the second player in the last 20 years to have been ranked World No. 1 in both singles and doubles. On the men’s aide, Sinner was awarded the trophy to a roaring crowd in his home country, with his mom looking on in tears.

🏁 I’m imagining Denis Shapovalov pulling up next to me at a red light, flipping me off, then leaving me and my 2018 Toyota Prius in the dust. Two editions ago, I basically said he does a lot of talking for someone who doesn’t do a lot of winning. I guess he secretly reads the newsletter, since he won last week in Belgrade, his first tour-level title in 5 years. The cherry on top? Hometown hero Novak Djokovic presented the trophy.

🤦🏼‍♂️ Jon Wertheim was suspended by Tennis Channel (TC) after inadvertently making a comment about Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova’s appearance on air. Wertheim joined a segment of TC via zoom, and compared the way his forehead looked to that of Krejcikova’s. The Czech player criticized Wertheim, to which the commentator issued both a personal and public apology. +1 in the unforced error column for Jon.

Memes

Same Morgan, same. Watching Taylor is 🥱🥱

Answer

D. Chris Evert