Gauff's Perfect Ending

WTA FINALS 
Gauff’s Perfect Ending

Coco Gauff cried so much for all the wrong reasons this year on the court that it surely felt extra special for her to end 2024 on such a high. Here she went to win her first WTA Finals title, becoming, at 20, the youngest champion at the event since Maria Sharapova (17) in 2004. Gauff is also the first US player to win the WTA Finals since Serena Williams in 2014.

She had a very good year but didn’t find a way to put her hands on the trophies she wanted the most, and it feels like in Riyadh this week, she just started to play freely. In a “come and get me if you can” way. With some impressive mental strength along the way. Not burdened by her serve, that’s what Coco Gauff looks like. And that was a fun ride!

Let’s be honest, Zheng Qinwen nearly had that final many times throughout that match (including a 5-3 lead in the third). Watch the highlights of the final. The Chinese player also had an impressive week and, overall, a very impressive 2024. She has stepped up like wow and could really be coming for Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and Elena Rybakina next year. She’s so determined, this one. One has to praise how driven she is, even if, on the way, she’s ruffling some feathers.

In the end, if one looks at the bigger picture, it’s kind of ideal to have Coco Gauff as the first winner of these WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia. She’s the only one who spoke out regularly about her doubts and hopes regarding playing in Riyadh. Who took a stand for women’s rights and the LGBTQ+ community rights. The same way she did for the US election and gun control. It’s fitting that one of the rare activists of the WTA lifted the trophy in Riyadh. It surely helps everyone involved in the Tour. Side note: why was this trophy SO small? We were missing on the shiny department here, people.

In the doubles event, Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe, who came into the tournament as the second seed, defeated Taylor Townsend and Katarina Siniakova in straight sets (7-5, 6-3) to lift their first WTA Finals crown as a duo. They were undefeated throughout the whole tournament.

ATP 
Shapovalov finally rewarded

From the qualifications to the title! Denis Shapovalov, who’s been going through it the past couple of years due to a knee injury, finally got rewarded for his efforts by winning the second title of his career.

The Canadian beat Hamad Medjedovic (watch out for this one because he’s so good) in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) to clinch the trophy in Belgrade, his first one since Stockholm 2019. I’m personally very glad to see his lefty paw doing some damage again. The Tour needs that guy, really. Also, Novak Djokovic, who was seen chatting with former coach Marian Vajda, was on duty to hand him the trophy.

In Metz, Benjamin Bonzi won his first ATP title after beating Cameron Norrie (7-6(6), 6-4). The French also came from the qualifications and was 0-6 on the Tour this year until this week.

QUESTION OF THE DAY 
Can She Keep It Up?

You were 75% to think that the ATP Finals weren’t holding the same prestige as they used to.

“It doesn't. Especially in a year with the Olympics, where we see how much a medal means to all the players. The ATP Finals do not hold a candle to that,” said Cheryl.

“Not in the years when the Olympic Games are staged. Then winning an Olympic gold medal holds more prestige -- and by a wide margin -- than winning the ATP Finals. When the Olympics are not staged, the ATP Finals is the fifth most prestigious event on the men's calendar -- despite Indian Wells's bogus claim that it's the "fifth major,” added Paul.

BUSINESS / MEDIA 
Gauff’s purse, ATP’s digital gifts, and a WTA’s partner under investigation

• It’s not only that Coco Gauff won her first WTA Finals title. It’s also that she earned the biggest paycheck in the WTA’s history by doing so: $4,8 million. Boom. Sure, we’re still not at Sinner’s $6 million earned for winning that exhibition in Riyadh, but it’s already way more than what the ATP Finals champion will get ($2,237,200) unless he finishes undefeated ($4,801,500).
  
  Gauff was defeated on the way to the title by Barbora Krejcikova (7-5, 6-4), missing on an ever bigger paycheck of $5,155,000. The overall prize money for the event was already setting a record with over $15 million. Gauff, who has made huge business leaps since her US Open title, is no doubt going to get another boost with that title.
  

• The Players Fund, an investor in Naomi Osaka’s media company Hana Kuma, has invested in a health optimization startup. The Players Fund is a UK-based athlete-let venture capital firm whose investors include “cricket star Ben Stokes, Olympic champion Jess Ennis-Hill, England rugby player Courtney Lawes, and Arsenal footballer Ben White among its 60 professional athlete backers,” reports Vetted. The start-up they’ve now invested in is named OptimallyMe, and it “utilizes wearable tech, AI, and blood testing to analyze health biomarkers and provide personalized fitness, nutrition, mood, and sleep advice.”
  

• The ATP is launching a limited-edition collection of NFTs in collaboration with Trace (a UK-based tech startup). What collection? One about the memorabilia, based on the ATP Finals in Turin. Its name? Momentum. “An eight-day experience where fans claim Traces: digital memorabilia, crafted from match data, that retell the story of tennis. As the tournament progresses, fans will be welcomed to claim a Trace from each of the 15 singles matches – a personal keepsake to relive showdowns between the world’s greatest players. (…) Each Trace is time-limited, claimable exclusively during a 24-hour window on match day,” said a statement from the ATP.

• CVC Capital Partners, which bought 20% into WTA’s commercial entity, WTA Venture, for $150 million, is under investigation in France regarding its involvement with the LFP professional soccer league, and searches at offices are currently happening. "The searches are part of an investigation that was opened on July 16, 2024, and handed over to the Paris Research Unit, on charges of embezzlement of public funds, active and passive bribery of a public official and illegal taking of interest,” reports Reuters, as “In 2022, CVC Capital acquired a 13% stake worth 1.5 billion euros in the LFP's newly created media rights business company.”

MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO 
Give Krejcikova her damn respect (iykyk)

As if Barbora Krejcikova or Iga Swiatek haven’t already heard enough through their public lives about their foreheads. Like, let’s be real. What accidentally landed on air is what the mean-spirited people of that Tour have been snarking on for a while. You would be shocked… And it’s 99% of the time about the women. And when you don’t laugh, they roll their eyes because really you’re so not fun. Answer? Insert an Oprah stare here.

Somehow, what happened with Krejcikova was a good thing in the end, as it gave the Wimbledon champion the space to fight back and showed the snarkers what was going to happen to them if they didn’t stay real quiet.

Leave these women's bodies alone. Many women all around the world are done with this BS and aren’t ready to play nice about it anymore to avoid making scenes and being seen as the-always-angry-ones. That’s not the winter arc, that’s the only arc. If the only jokes you can throw about women's tennis are on women’s bodies, get outta here. Should we again say that there’s a need for more women in sports media? Diversity ain’t a bad word, it’s a great check and balances tool.

In the category of “players being done with it all,” I present you, Daniil Medvedev. Beaten for his first match at the ATP Finals, he just lost a part of his mind. Winner in this event in 2020 and finalist in 2021, Medvedev has been complaining for a while about the balls used on Tour. He says they’re too slow and that it levels it all down: it makes players who couldn’t stay with him in the rallies thrive, it hinders the impact of strategy, it raises the risk of injuries, and it pisses him off.

That summarizes what he said in his press conference after the match. Adding that it was killing his joy of being on the court gave him only the desire to be done with the year, but he will try to find a solution this winter. Good luck to his coaches because that’s not gonna be an easy task to get Medvedev’s brain back on that track.

It’s been months of him ranting about these balls, and even if he might be right, what good does it do to him to marinate in this issue? He’s just making the disadvantage he feels he now gets worse because it’s frying his nerves at the worst moments in his matches. Tennis players keep saying, “Control what you can control.” Daniil, you can’t control the choice of these balls. And if Alex De Minaur can have his best year so far with these balls, you shouldn’t be stuck in the struggle bus.

Iga Swiatek is moving on. After losing her crown and her WTA Finals title, she has already landed in Malaga for the BJK Cup. Conchita Martinez was there to welcome her. No doubt that the event is more than happy that she changed her mind and decided to play as other WTA stars like Naomi Osaka and Jessica Pegula could not make the trip.

PLAY HARD, TRAIN HARD, DRESS THE PART 
ATP, What Happened?

Was there a strike on good cuts for suits? Was someone in their beige era? Why the painting above them? Why that ladder? Why is Jannik Sinner, a Gucci ambassador, swimming in his suit? How did Medvedev land in his jeans here? Why do none of their colors match? Like, none of them. Overall question: Has someone sabotaged the assignment of what is supposed to be the iconic pictures of the Finals? Budget cuts came into play, or? I mean, I need answers for that.

Only Norway gets the points here. All the points to Norway. We appreciate your service, Casper Ruud.

Again: The Ladder? They ain’t gonna paint nothing in these white shirts. No idea what the vision was, but that really didn’t translate well. What are these ones doing on that ground in various non-matching kinda chairs? I cannot.

You know what? That’s when Roger Federer is missed because he wouldn’t have tolerated being included in that and would have put all these suits in order. Federer on the ground near a ladder for the ATP Finals official picture? Nobody would have dared. And so I’m back at my previous rant: why is every sport getting a fashion editor, and tennis is left to…this? The Big 4 era would have never, and is having a laugh somewhere. Also laughing, the WTA people who were in charge of the WTA Finals official pictures because they won.

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READ: The NYT has a feature about the tough balancing act of the WTA in Saudi Arabia: “Saudi Arabia’s first WTA Tour Finals: Tennis spectacle collides with everyday reality in Riyadh.”

LISTEN TO: Coco Gauff’s champion’s corner, where she reflects on her season.

SUPPORT: What Rachel Maddow said. All of it. Valid worldwide.