Coco Gauff Reveals How A'ja Wilson Inspired Her En Route to China Open Victory

The American tennis star shouted out a basketball contemporary.

Coco Gauff, 2024 China Open champion. / Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

At the China Open in Beijing, American Coco Gauff needed a big tournament and she got it.

Gauff downed Karolina Muchova 6–1, 6–3 Sunday to win this year's women's singles title at the event. It made her the youngest woman to win it since 2010 and the first American woman to win it since Serena Williams in 2013.

More crucially, it gave Gauff her first singles title since Jan. 7 in Auckland. This season was a slight step back for Gauff—she's won two tournaments this year to four in an outstanding 2023—but her victory in Beijing, along with inspiration from Las Vegas Aces center and WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson, appears to have provided a confidence boost as 2025 nears.

"People don't realize people have great moments in sports and bad moments. It doesn't mean anything," Gauff said via the WTA's website. "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.'"

Wilson's Aces lost to the New York Liberty in four games in the WNBA semifinals, ending their bid for a third straight championship.

"You need to go through losses to realize what you need to do to evolve," Gauff said. "Tennis fans need to be more accepting of that."

More of the Latest Around the World of Sports

feed