“I took inspiration from A’ja Wilson” – Coco Gauff discloses how WNBA star’s view on losing and evolving helped her win China Open 2024

Coco Gauff revealed that she took inspiration from WNBA star A’ja Wilson after winning the 2024 China Open. Gauff explained the importance of facing defeats as they heled one understand the areas they could improve upon.

The 20-year-old had a poor outing at the North American hard-court swing this year, facing early eliminations at all the tournaments she competed in, meaning she failed to defend her Cincinnati Open and US Open titles. Following this underwhelming run, she split with her longtime coach Brad Gilbert, and hired Matt Daly.

The American managed to turn things around during the China Open and went on to clinch the second WTA 1000 singles title of her career. En route, the fourth seed ousted the likes of Clara Burel, 26th seed Katie Boulter, Naomi Osaka (retired), Yulia Starodubtseva, 15th seed Paula Badosa, and Karolina Muchova.

Coco Gauff revealed that she took inspiration from Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson, who the World No. 4 has hailed previously. She stated how people pressured Wilson’s Aces to complete a three-peat which the WNBA star responded to by describing how hard it was to keep emerging victorious.Gauff understood how losing was an important aspect of sports since it helped one understand where they needed to improve.

“People don’t realize people have great moments in sports and bad moments. It doesn’t mean anything,” Gauff said, as quoted by WTA. “I took inspiration from A’ja Wilson. Back to back champions. People wanted them to three-peat. She’s kind of like, ‘It’s hard to stay winning all the time.'”

“You need to go through losses to realize what you need to do to evolve. Tennis fans need to be more accepting of that,” she added.

A’ja Wilson’s Las Vegas Aces couldn’t complete the three-peat as they were eliminated 1-3 in the semifinals by the New York Liberty.