Coco Gauff's Rivalries: Three Player Who Will Challenge Her In 2024

Coco Gauff will start the 2024 WTA season as one of the hot candidates for Grand Slam titles, but she will face a challenging opposition.

After winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the 2023 US Open, the American player immediately became part of the discussion when talking about the favourites for any Grand Slam tournament.

She's very versatile, and can play well on every surface. With the 2024 Australian Open as the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, she will be the most recent major champion, and all eyes will be on the 19-year-old heading into the 2024 season.

But with that, a lot of players that want to challenge the teenager come too. The target on her back will be even bigger, and there will be many players that will want to challenge her, but three rivalries just stand out.

3. Jessica Pegula

Jessica Pegula likely knows Gauff more than anyone else on the WTA Tour. The reason for that is quite simple. The two have played doubles together for a really big part of Gauff's career, meaning Pegula got to see her growth in front of her eyes.

On top of that, she proved that she can beat the teenager, and not just once. Although Gauff won their meeting in Eastbourne on grass earlier this year, Pegula was the only player to beat her in North America in 2023.

On top of that, Pegula beat her also at the WTA Finals, so it's clear that the 29-year-old knows how to play her doubles partner, and the fact that she leads the H2H 3-1 only proves it.

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2. Aryna Sabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka is actually the only player on this list that doesn't have a winning H2H against the American, as she trails her 2-4 in the matches that they played, but she has something else - extra motivation.

It was the Belarusian who Gauff beat in the 2023 US Open final and denied her the second Grand Slam title of her career, and eventually, also the year-end no. 1 spot, on which Sabalenka missed out only by little.

Sabalenka dominated Gauff earlier in 2023, when she bested her at the Indian Wells Masters, winning 6-4, 6-0, and with added motivation, the Belarusian will be a challenging opponent for Gauff in 2024.

1. Iga Swiatek

There's one name that stands out, and it's Iga Swiatek. The Pole holds one of the most dominant H2H records against Gauff, when she managed to beat her in 9 of the 10 matches that they played.

However, Gauff won one of the most important matches that they played, when she bested her nemesis at the Cincinnati Masters, where she won her maiden WTA 1000 title.

With such a one-sided head-to-head, it's easy to tell why Swiatek will be Gauff's main challenger in 2024, and why the American will want to turn it around.

Do you think there's someone else that Coco Gauff will develop rivalry with in 2024? Let us know in the comments!

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