Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula and Zheng were all beaten by the American at the WTA Finals as she became the youngest winner of the event since Maria Sharapova in 2004.

The result came after a successful end to the season for the American, as Gauff took home the China Open title, beating Karolina Muchova in the final.

Another result in Gauff’s remarkable career, that one tennis legend thinks gets judged far too harshly.

Andy Roddick says Coco Gauff is judged unfairly by tennis fans

Former world number one Andy Roddick spoke on his podcast about Gauff’s WTA Finals win and argued that what some tennis fans are doing to Gauff is unfair.

“Let’s backtrack a little bit before we all pretend that it was the most obvious thing that she was going to win the WTA Finals,” he said.

“Coco [Gauff] is now at the point in her career where if things go badly the criticism comes faster, and when she does well it’s like yeah, obviously we all knew.

“No, no, no, don’t do that, that’s not fair, that’s not right.”

Gauff herself recently took to X to silence some of her critics.

“It does feel nice to silence them [haters] for a bit,” she said.

Roddick went on to explain what Gauff changed at the WTA Finals that led to her victory.

“We did talk about her serve last week, and the adjustments made, there’s been a grip shift, not sure how much she’s talked about it, but I also talked last week about how the margins on her serve looked better,” he said.

“Not like at the US Open where one is going maybe halfway up the net, next one she’s missing by six feet, if she’s missing now, it’s a tighter miss, which means maybe she misses by six inches long, or maybe she clips the top of the tape.

“That matters so much at scale, and then you fast forward to her beating Qinwen [Zheng] in the finals, had championship points, let them go, dominated the breaker after that, but 7-6 in the third, four doubles [faults].

“That’s a pressure-packed situation, doing something she’s never done before, being the best player in a week where we only have the best players for the year.”

Gauff had struggled with her serve throughout the year, double-faulting a season record 21 times against Sabalenka at the Wuhan Open.

Andy Roddick predicts big things for Coco Gauff’s 2025 season

After winning the WTA Finals, Roddick looked back on what was a mighty impressive year for Gauff on the WTA Tour.

“A massive post US open where she might have needed it more than any other elite player, a lot of questions coming out of the US Open,” said Roddick.

“She didn’t let those linger through the rest of 2024, she handled them, got through it.”

Roddick mentioned that Gauff’s win over Swiatek in particular will give her a lot of momentum going into the new year.

“When you have a 1-11 record against someone, getting that win against Iga Swiatek where it has been traditionally a very hard matchup, probably her toughest matchup on tour, wonders for confidence,” he said.

“She’s going to sleep a lot better this off-season, and her steps are going to be a little bit lighter when she goes into problem-solving.

“There’s not as much scar tissue from 2024, she’s almost deleted all of it, and I think she’s prepped for a massive year next year.”

Gauff beat both Sabalenka and Swiatek at the WTA Finals, the two players ranked above her, and will desperately be looking to chase them down in the new year to become world number one for the first time.

As the youngest member of the WTA top ten, there is certainly no rush for Gauff to reach number one, but she will be hoping to do so in 2025.

A gap of less than 3000 points is far from insurmountable, and if the American can continue with the form that she showed at the end of 2024, she could well take top spot before you know it.

Gauff will likely return to competitive action for the build-up to next year’s Australian Open next January.

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