Coco Gauff didn't have the best time on the courts recently, but she's excited about the finish to the 2024 season because it feels like an early pre-season for her.
While the US Open is over, and there aren't any more Grand Slams this year, plenty of events remain to be played. The season is not over yet, and Gauff is excited about the upcoming weeks.
Her last weeks on the WTA Tour were far below her expectations, as she didn't necessarily play as well as she had hoped. The American begins this final stretch of her season in Beijing at the China Open, an event where she made the semi-final last year.
She has a new coach, Matt Daly, and a new setup with her in the Chinese capital, which she hopes will transform her fortunes. She's already implemented some changes in her game and feels like there is a drastic change from where she was just three weeks ago.
"Already, the little bit we've done has made a drastic improvement to where I was three weeks ago. At this point, there's not a crazy amount, like going through a whole technique change or resetting everything. It's just subtle things that, doing it for a week now, will help me."
One of the biggest events left to be played this year is the WTA Finals, and while the competition is weeks away, the American is one of those players hoping to find herself in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
She was asked whether she feels pressure to make the year-end championship, to which she interestingly responded that she doesn't. She doesn't want to put any kind of pressure on herself for the rest of the year.
There are goals she wants to achieve, but in essence, this feels more like a pre-season for her, during which she hopes to take the next step.
"I've never felt pressure to make the Finals except the first year when I was trying to make it. This year, it would be great to qualify and experience an organized Finals, but I'm also not trying to put too much pressure because this is a new coaching setup and I'm adding things."
"This tournament, we started a pre-season early, in a way. So, I'm not really thinking about it. If it happens, that's great. If not, I get an earlier vacation. It's a win-win. But everybody wants to make the final eight, so that would be cool."
Still, Gauff has a good shot at making the WTA Finals because she will most likely need to finish in the Top 7 to get it done. Right now, she's placed sixth in the WTA Race to Riyadh, which would be enough to make the cut, and she's about 800 points safe from the zone.
However, there are still plenty of tournaments to be played, and behind the 20-year-old, many players who are motivated to end their season on a high.
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