Coco Gauff reveals ‘main focus’ as she discusses key schedule change

Oli Dickson Jefford 27 Dec 2024 4:59 PM

Coco Gauff celebrates during her match

Coco Gauff has revealed her “main focus” is to perform well at the Australian Open as she discussed a key schedule change at the start of the 2025 season.

World No 3 Gauff ended the 2024 season in fine form, lifting her second WTA 1000 title at the China Open before triumphing at the WTA Finals in Riyadh in the closing months of the year.

Action at the Australian Open will begin on January 12th, with the American – a semi-finalist in 2024 – among the leading women’s singles title contenders.

Gauff is set to compete at the United Cup this coming week, her sole warm-up event before play gets underway at the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne.

She has chosen to play the United Cup instead of the Auckland Open, where she would have been competing as the two-time defending champion.

Gauff defeated Rebeka Masarova in the 2023 final at the WTA 250-level tournament, before rallying from a set down to beat Elina Svitolina in the 2024 final a year ago.

Speaking ahead of her United Cup campaign, the 20-year-old revealed her focus was on playing a “higher level” in preparation for her Australian Open tilt.

“I love Auckland. I won twice there – It was a great tournament,” she said.

“For me, I wanted to play a higher level of competition and also a team competition. I had a lot of fun with the Paris Olympics. The season’s already so much by ourselves that it’s nice to mix it up.

“I think for all of us the main focus is the Australian Open and doing well there.”

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Gauff leads the line for the US at the United Cup alongside ATP counterpart Taylor Fritz, who was an integral part of the American team that won the inaugural edition of the event in 2023.

America start their campaign on December 29th in Perth against Canada, with Gauff set to face Leylah Fernandez and Fritz set to face Felix Auger-Aliassime.

That will be followed by a tie against Croatia on December 31st, where the 20-year-old would be expected to face Donna Vekic in women’s singles action.

Gauff added: “We’re all pumped up to play Canada or whoever – I think we all want to win.

“It’s not an easy start to the first match of the year, playing Leylah and Felix. But we’re up, ready for it. We all want a couple of good matches to start off the year.”

United Cup action started on Friday, with Kazakhstan beating Spain 2-1 and China defeating Brazil 3-0.