{"id":300191,"date":"2025-10-13T15:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T15:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/300191\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T15:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T15:04:10","slug":"coco-gauff-tells-the-wta-what-she-definitely-does-not-want-them-to-do-with-the-finals-tournament-in-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/300191\/","title":{"rendered":"Coco Gauff tells the WTA what she ‘definitely’ does not want them to do with the Finals tournament in future"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Coco Gauff will already be looking ahead to her title defence at the WTA Finals, which return to Riyadh next month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauff<\/a> won the WTA Finals<\/a> in 2024, becoming the first American to achieve the feat since Serena Williams in 2014.<\/p>\n

She defeated Qinwen Zheng in the final, ending her 2024 season with three titles following her success in Auckland and Beijing.<\/p>\n

Gauff could now achieve the exact same feat this time around, having won at the French Open and Wuhan Open this year.<\/p>\n

Jessica Pegula praised Gauff<\/a> after losing their Wuhan Open final, with the tournament having represented the last WTA<\/a> 1000 final of the season.<\/p>\n

\"CocoPhoto by Robert Prange\/Getty ImagesCoco Gauff tells the WTA what she doesn\u2019t want them to do with the Finals in future<\/p>\n

Gauff can now turn her focus to the WTA Finals, with Riyadh playing host for the second time as part of a three-year deal between the WTA Tour and the Saudi Tennis Federation.<\/p>\n

Asked by Arab News if she thinks extending the deal would be a good decision from the WTA Finals, the American said: \u201cI don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause my last three finals, I\u2019ve been in three different places, I definitely don\u2019t think we should go to different places every year.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Coco Gauff\u2019s victory in Wuhan is made even more remarkable considering what happened to her just last week<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019ve been on a tour long enough to know like if 10 years is the right thing or not, because I\u2019ve played in three different years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I definitely think that there\u2019s benefit to keeping a tournament there for at least two or three years in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it builds a culture of that tournament in that area, which can bring more attention and also allow fans to, if they want to go to plan their trips and things \u2013 I think that was the issue with the two previous WTA Finals before last year\u2019s, it was announced pretty late.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I don\u2019t think that the turnout was great because of that. So I definitely think that there\u2019s benefit to having stability there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely think that for Riyadh, it was smart to just do three years, just to test the waters and see how it goes, considering that there was never a women\u2019s professional event there. But from a player perspective, it definitely seemed like it was successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how it was logistically and all that, but from my experience, it seems successful. So I wouldn\u2019t mind coming back in the future for longer than three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think sport has the power to do a lot of things and bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defending champion @CocoGauff<\/a> reflects on the WTA Finals’ first staging in Riyadh and looks ahead to what the future may bring \ud83d\udcfd\ufe0f\ud83d\udcf0https:\/\/t.co\/Q0Jwp8JrTp<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) October 12, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View Tweet<\/p>\n

What Coco Gauff \u2018didn\u2019t expect\u2019 about the WTA Finals Riyadh in 2024<\/p>\n

The WTA Finals had previously been planned for a lengthy stay in Shenzhen, but the 10-year deal was cut short because of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

From 2021 to 2023, the tournament had moved between Guadalajara, Fort Worth and Cancun, having had a home in Singapore from 2014 to 2018.<\/p>\n\nYear<\/strong><\/td>\nWinner<\/strong><\/td>\nRunner-up<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2014<\/td>\nSerena Williams<\/td>\nSimona Halep<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2015<\/td>\nAgnieszka Radwanska<\/td>\nPetra Kvitova<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2016<\/td>\nDominika Cibulkova<\/td>\nAngelique Kerber<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2017<\/td>\nCaroline Wozniacki<\/td>\nVenus Williams<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2018<\/td>\nElina Svitolina<\/td>\nSloane Stephens<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2019<\/td>\nAshleigh Barty<\/td>\nElina Svitolina<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2021<\/td>\nGarbine Muguruza<\/td>\nAnett Kontaveit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2022<\/td>\nCarolina Garcia<\/td>\nAryna Sabalenka<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2023<\/td>\nIga Swiatek<\/td>\nJessica Pegula<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2024<\/td>\nCoco Gauff<\/td>\nQinwen Zheng<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Last 10 WTA Finals champions<\/p>\n

Riyadh now has the rights from 2024 to 2026, with Gauff saying of its debut last year: \u201cI think sport has the power to do a lot of things and bring people together.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I felt like the energy was there when I was inside the stadium, that everyone was enjoying the tennis and coming together. People from all nationalities attending, some Americans, Chinese, everyone coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t expect a lot of people to travel for the tournament, honestly. So, I was pretty impressed to see how many people came and I enjoyed the atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether or not Riyadh continues to host beyond 2026 remains to be seen, but Gauff clearly wants stability at this late stage of the season.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event takes place in the first week of November, with the 2026 season starting in the first week of January with the United Cup.<\/p>\n