Coco Gauff will compete in the year-end championships on the WTA Tour, and she had a hilarious moment when talking about it at the 2024 Wuhan Open.
For many of the top tennis players, the main goal for every season, apart from winning titles, is qualifying for the year-end championships. For Gauff, qualifying for the WTA Finals was obviously one of the goals going into this season, and she fulfilled it.
She collected enough points to qualify for the WTA Finals already during the Wuhan Open, as with the tournaments and points remaining on offer, it wouldn't be possible for enough players to overtake her for the American player to find herself outside of the elite 8.
However, there is a minor discrepancy between when a player qualifies for the WTA Finals and when it is announced, which caused a hilarious situation during the 20-year-old's press conference in Wuhan.
Asked about the WTA Finals, Gauff confirmed that she saw that she qualified for the tournament, as mathematically, it wasn't possible for her not to qualify anymore.
However, the WTA sometimes takes some time before officially announcing the news, as they often want to conduct an interview with a qualified player to create a news story.
That's why it might take some time before the WTA confirms a player's qualification, even though it's obvious for a few days that they have already mathematically qualified for the tournament.
This led to the hilarious moment in Wuhan when Gauff stated that she was told not to say anything as her participation had yet to be announced, but she herself was able to verify that mathematically, there wasn't a scenario that wouldn't see her qualify.
"I saw that I qualified on the ranking race. Oops, they said they didn't announce it yet. If you look it up online, there's a checkmark by my name. They told me not to say anything. Sorry. But it's by my name (laughter). You can look it up. So I'm there."
"I found out maybe two days ago. I don't remember which round, by quarters or something. Yeah, I'm really happy to be qualified. I'm happy to be going there. Honestly, going in it was like whatever happens happens. Obviously you want to do the more positive thing."
For Gauff, the 2024 WTA Finals, running from November 2nd to 9th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will be special in many ways. It will be already her third participation at the event.
She lost in the round-robin stage in her first event, while last year, she reached the semi-finals. If that progression continues, the American player could challenge for a trophy in Riyadh.
In addition, it will be the first time that she will compete at the WTA Finals only in singles, as she decided not to play doubles anymore earlier this season.
"I think it's my third one in a row. It's my first time not playing doubles, so that's going to be a different experience. But I'm excited. I'm looking at dresses. They have a lot of things planned for us. I'm super excited. Yeah, I heard it's going to be great, so I'm excited."