‘Coco Gauff will become world No 1 and I think she can do it next year’
Coco Gauff has been backed to become WTA world No 1 with ATP player Chris Eubanks suggesting she could achieve the feat for the first career during the 2025 tennis season.
The American peaked at No 2 in the WTA Rankings between June and August this year, but finished the campaign at No 3 with Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek occupying the top two spots.
Gauff briefly dropped to No 6 in August after she failed to defend her Cincinnati Open and US Open titles, but she was back to her best during the final few months of the year as she won the WTA 1000 China Open and the WTA Finals to return to No 3.
The 20-year-old’s progress up the rankings has been steady over the last few years and Eubanks believes the only way is up.
“We’ve seen so much greatness from her at such a young age, I think it’s safe to say that she will become world number one,” he said on the Tennis Channel Live podcast. “I think although it’s a big points deficit, I think she can do it next year.”
Gauff made a solid start to 2024 as she successfully defended her ASB Classic title in Auckland and also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the French Open.
But her form then started to drop off as she lost early at Wimbledon, the 2024 Paris Olympics, Cincinnati and the US Open.
Following her Flushing Meadows exit, she parted ways with Brad Gilbert and Matt Daly joined her coaching set-up, leading her to success in Beijing and Saudi Arabia.
Eubanks added: “Not just because of what I’ve seen from her at the end of last year at the WTA Finals, having to go through a gauntlet in order to take that title, but also look at history here.
“Her highest ranking in 2021 was 19, in 2022 it was 4 in the world, in 2023 it was 3 in the world, and in 2024 it was 2 in the world.
“It’s trending towards progress each and every year. This year was number two, there’s only one place to go from there.”
Coco Gauff News
But Gauff will have a tough task on her hands as the top two players in the rankings have a healthy points lead as Sabalenka sits on 9,416 points with Swiatek on 8,295 while Gauff is 1,765 points adrift of the Pole in third place.
Sabalenka, though, is defending 2,325 points during the Australia swing, Swiatek 630 and Gauff 1,030 so she could make in roads during the early hard-court tournaments.
