"She’s awesome on and off the court" - Chris Evert praises Coco Gauff after 18-year-old makes WTA Finals in singles and doubles
18-year-old Coco Gauff has earned a special bit of praise from 18-time Grand Slam singles champion Chris Evert. Gauff recently sealed spots in both the singles and doubles events at the WTA Finals later this month.
Evert said that Gauff was "awesome" on the court and also in her conduct off it, replying to a tweet from tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg. Earlier this week, Gauff became the youngest player since Maria Sharapova to qualify for the WTA Finals.
Totally agree….. she’s awesome on and off the court!" Evert wrote on Twitter.
twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
😂😂😂😂totally agree….. she’s awesome on and off the court!👍 twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
Rothenberg wrote about the youngster's incredible achievement of reaching the prestigious season-ending finale in both singles and doubles at such a young age.
He even joked that while there is a conscious effort in the tennis world not to "overhype" Gauff, her latest achievement deserves to be hyped.
"Coco Gauff qualifying for WTA year-end championships in singles AND doubles at age 18 is an unreal accomplishment. I know there was an effort to avoid overhype Gauff when she arrived to tour, but we should probably allow ourselves to stop and say "omg wtf wow amazing" sometimes," Rothenberg wrote on Twitter.
Gauff earned her place in the singles event of the WTA Finals with a second-round win against Elisabetta Cocciaretto at the Guadalajara Open earlier in the week. The World No. 7 reached the singles quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 event on Thursday, where she will face Victoria Azarenka.
While Gauff will be the youngest singles participant in the WTA Finals since Sharapova in 2005, she will be the youngest doubles participant at the year-ending tournament since the turn of the century. She qualified for the doubles event alongside fellow American Jessica Pegula. The teenager has also reached the quarterfinals of the doubles event in Guadalajara, partnering with Pegula.
"Happy that I could 'Buy one, get one free'" - Coco Gauff on WTA Finals qualification
Coco Gauff expressed her happiness at qualifying for the WTA Finals in both singles and doubles, creating history in the process, and joked that she was happy to "buy one, get one free." Gauff said that she was not thinking about having the chance to qualify before the match against Cocciaretto and just went with the flow. The American was also thrilled to join her good friend Pegula in the season finale and play doubles with her.
"I'm just super excited. I wasn't really thinking about it, to be honest, before the match. But I'm excited to join Jess (Jessica Pegula) out there. She got qualified last week, so I'm just happy that I was able to do it here. It's my first WTA Finals for singles and doubles. I'm happy that I could 'Buy one, get one free,' so two for one," Coco Gauff said during her on-court interview after her second-round match at the Guadalajara Open.
Gauff has reached at least the quarterfinals of seven WTA events this season. However, she has not been able to win a singles title this season although she reached her maiden Grand Slam singles final at the French Open in June. She has won three doubles titles in 2022, all with Pegula, and also reached the Roland Garros doubles final.