Coco Gauff has been given clear advice ahead of her opening match at the WTA Finals this year.
Gauff is a former WTA Finals champion, and is making her fifth consecutive appearance at the year-end tournament after another consistent season, despite not winning a Grand Slam title.
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The two best Grand Slam results Gauff achieved this year were at Wimbledon and the US Open, where she made it all the way to the semi-finals.
During both of these tournaments, but particularly Wimbledon, Gauff was making more approaches to the net and 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova has told the world number four what she should do at the WTA Finals this year.
Martina Navratilova wants Coco Gauff to come to the net more
Navratilova discussed Gauff when speaking to the wtatennis.com, as she previewed how the American will fare in the conditions, with the WTA Finals being held at Indian Wells this year.
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“The surface should suit her just fine,” said Navratilova. “She’s played this event enough times to know what it takes to win it, and she’s done it before. The hard part is keeping your level up when you’re playing one of the best players in the world every time you walk out there.”
Navratilova played during an era when serve-and-volleying was the main tactic and one that she used to great effect, and she is hoping that Gauff will make more approaches to the net going forward, including at the WTA Finals.
“She defends so well that she can turn a point around from almost anywhere,” Navratilova said as she continued to speak about Gauff.
“Once she gets her opponent on the stretch, I want to see her follow that ball in and take away the time they need to recover. She’s got good volleys and great reach, so there’s very little room to pass her, and it’s hard to get the ball over her head.”
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Coco Gauff’s record at Indian Wells ahead of the WTA Finals
While Gauff is a former WTA Finals champion, she is yet to win the title at the WTA 1000 tournament held in Indian Wells in March.
The 22-year-old has made six previous appearances at Indian Wells, with Gauff winning two thirds of her matches and achieving her best result at the tournament in 2024, when she made it to the quarter-finals. However, at this year’s Indian Wells, Gauff only won one match before retiring for just the second time in her WTA career against Alex Eala.
Gauff has only played in the colder conditions at Indian Wells once before, with the 2021 tournament being held in October due to Covid-19, but she was again only able to win one match.
|
Year |
Coco Gauff’s result at Indian Wells |
|
2021 |
Third Round |
|
2022 |
Third Round |
|
2023 |
Quarter-final |
|
2024 |
Semi-final |
|
2025 |
Fourth Round |
|
2026 |
Third Round |
As part of Group 1 at the WTA Finals this year, Gauff will be hoping to repeat her previous successes at the year-end tournament after winning the title in 2024.
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Gauff will play Jessica Pegula in her first match, in a group that also consists of Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova and alternate Marta Kostyuk, who replaced Elena Rybakina after she withdrew due to illness.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
