The 2025 tennis season is just around the corner, and you can feel the buzz in the air! With fans and players equally excited, all eyes are set on the United Cup—a thrilling curtain-raiser in Perth and Sydney that promises to set the tone for an electrifying year ahead. But as the action builds on the court, the off-court buzz is just as captivating. Leading the charge? None other than Coco Gauff who is grabbing attention, for her remarkable off-court resilience. 

The American tennis sensation wrapped up her 2024 season with a remarkable victory at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. This helped her clinch her third title in the season, where she found success at the ASB Classic and the China Open. Now, she is gearing up for the United Cup as she wishes to “play a higher level of competition and also a team competition.” But ahead of the tournament, Gauff is engaged in some adventure and is attempting to overcome her fear. 

Taking to her Instagram story, the 20-year-old shared a selfie from inside a helicopter as she reached Perth for her campaign. The star player wrote, “Rode a helicopter for the first time! I was scared but I overcame it.” This highlights the determination of Gauff not just to overcome her challenges on the court, but also off of it. Meanwhile, this is not the first time that her off-court activity has gained attention ahead of her campaign in Australia. 

Just a couple of days before, Coco Gauff took to her social media platform to highlight the picturesque beauty of the Australian Open and reveal her feelings about it. Captioning the post, she wrote, “Paradise❤️” highlighting how exciting her tour to Australia has already become. 

As far as her United Cup campaign is concerned, Gauff might be seen pairing up with Taylor Fritz for the mixed doubles, for which she is already excited. Speaking about the same, Gauff earlier said, “We’re both coming off a good year-end. And it’ll be our second time playing together. So hopefully, we can do even better than the Olympics.” But the American star has a bigger focus at the beginning of the year itself and it’s her campaign at the Australian Open. 

“I think for all of us the main focus is the Australian Open and doing well there,” Gauff told reporters making her aspirations clear. And interestingly, even experts are counting on her to depict remarkable skills in Melbourne. 

Coco Gauff expected to shine at the Australian Open

Coco Gauff’s resilience has been well witnessed from her 2024 season. Despite not winning enough in the initial half of her season, she managed to pounce back and win crucial tournaments. And now, as she prepares to participate in the first Grand Slam of the 2025 season in Melbourne, expectations are high from the star player, and one such expert to highlight the same is Former WTA pro-Andrea Petkovic.

Speaking about Gauff at The Rennae Stubbs Podcast, Petkovic said, “I think that Coco Gauff will be one of the favorites.” Elaborating further, she added, “I think the way she played the rest of the season after the US Open was so impressive, changing the grip on the serve. She needed to do, but in the middle of the season, so much respect for that. And I think she will be one of the favorites.” 

Now, it would be interesting to see if Gauff will be able to carry forward the dominance that she depicted in Riyadh and meet the expectations.