Former world number one Andy Roddick believes that the fans unfairly treated America’s Coco Gauff. The 20-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing women’s tennis in the singles category, along with Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka and Poland’s Iga Swiatek.
Gauff had a difficult season but finished it on a high as she lifted the recently concluded WTA Finals. The last major event in the women’s tennis calendar was recently played in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, for the first time, where the top eight players participated to secure the ultimate prize. It was eventually Gauff who came out on top after beating China’s Qinwen Zheng with a score of 3-6, 6-4, 7-6. It was only Gauff’s third title this year but second in last two months.
Former world number one Roddick has recently spoken about how the one-time Grand Slam was treated unfairly by the fans. The 42-year-old, who is now a host of a famous YouTube show as well, was of the opinion that Gauff is at a stage in her career where things are bound to get difficult, but fans were a little too impatient with her.
“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,” said Roddick. “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. That’s not fair, that’s not right. It does feel nice to silence them [haters] for a bit. 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.”
tyler tried to tell ya’ll🤷🏾♀️🗣️
— Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) November 10, 2024
In all seriousness, I’m so grateful for all the support the last few weeks. Getting to win the last tournament of the season and it also being my second biggest title of my career so far is insane. Wow WTA FINALS CHAMPION🤯
All glory to God… pic.twitter.com/8ychjjG3Hm