Coco Gauff's chances of succeeding at the 2025 Australian Open have been rated favorably by Rennae Stubbs, Serena Williams' former coach.
This year's Australian Open was Gauff's second tournament of what became a roller-coaster season. She began 2024 by winning the ASB Classic in Auckland, overcoming Elina Svitolina in an entertaining final.
Despite that achievement, Gauff will not return to the ASB Classic, choosing to play at the 2025 United Cup instead. However, fans in Auckland will be able to watch Simona Halep after she received a wild card.
Gauff reached the 2024 Australian Open semifinal. Her match against Aryna Sabalenka at that stage was of outstanding quality, but the American still lost in straight sets because of the eventual champion's outstanding level.
After a solid few months that included progressing to the semifinals of the Indian Wells Open, Italian Open, and French Open, Gauff split with her coach, Brad Gilbert, due to her level dropping during the grass court and North American hardcourt swings.
Gauff hired Matt Daly, who used to work with Denis Shapovalov, and the move proved inspired. She won the second WTA 1000 title of her career at the China Open in their first tournament together.
That was followed a month later by Gauff securing the second biggest title of her career (after the US Open) at the WTA Finals. The 20-year-old prevailed in a thrilling and grueling three-hour battle against Qinwen Zheng in the final.
Gauff took a deserved week after that success. During that time, she demonstrated some of her cooking skills to fans on Instagram but had to hit back at one user who claimed she did not make any of the dishes pictured and videoed.
The world No. 3 has since shared videos of her grueling training regime since returning to work during the off-season, including track and field running, which made Gauff relieved she did not choose that as her professional sport.
Although all players on the ATP and WTA Tours work hard, Gauff has been known for a few years as one of the sport's most dedicated players off the court. Her work to prepare for the 2025 season demonstrates that.
Stubbs noticed the young star's hard work. In an episode of her podcast, Serena Williams' former coach argued that Gauff's superb end to 2024 and the work she is doing to prepare for 2025 make her among the favorites for the Australian Open.
"Looking at the training schedule right now of Coco Gauff on Instagram she is putting in the work. I think after the way she finished the way she did that is going to be really interesting to see. I do believe she has absolutely put her hands up to be one of the favorites for the Australian Open."
Gauff's performance against Sabalenka in the 2024 Australian Open semifinal was actually better than in the US Open final the pair played in 2023, which the American won. She just ran into Sabalenka on a great day.
The 20-year-old could undoubtedly challenge for the title in Melbourne if she reaches the same level in 2025.
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