We are just a few days away from kick-starting the 2025 season ‘Down Under.‘ The stage is almost set and the players have already started to arrive. The top 3 players in WTA, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and Coco Gauff had a wonderful season in 2024. Although Gauff struggled in the middle phase of the season, she finished the season well. It’ll be interesting to see who among these three clinches more titles in 2025. Coco Gauff has been putting in the hard yards during her pre-season training season. This 20-year-old American has never won another Slam since her heroics at the 2023 US Open. There is a lot at stake for Gauff at the moment and now, perhaps, she’s not keen to waste any more time!

Coco Gauff won three titles this season and the first one came at the ASB Classic. However, there will be no ASB Classic hat-trick for the American as she has opted not to defend her title in Auckland in 2025. Instead, she has chosen to compete in the United Cup in Australia alongside her compatriots, Daniell Collins and Taylor Fritz. The United Cup is scheduled to take place from December 27 to January 5. After that, she’ll be seen in action at the first Grand Slam event of the 2025 season. The Australian Open is set to commence on January 12.

Coco Gauff’s deepest run at the AO, came this year! She reached the SF but was defeated by the eventual champion, Aryna Sabalenka. Ahead of next year’s edition, the American star is looking to be in a positive frame of mind.

Recently, Coco Gauff shared a few glimpses of her family vacation during the holiday season. Even her coach Jean-Christophe Faurel was also spotted in one of their recent trips. Now, Gauff has shared an update on her social media account. She has announced her arrival in Australia by sharing a post on her IG stories, sharing glimpses of the scenic beauty from the window seat of her flight.

Since she has arrived now, everyone will be keen to see how Gauff gets things started in Australia before the AO. Talking about putting effort, well just a few weeks ago, she was seen engaging in intense training, incorporating exercises like bench presses, reverse crunches and even sprinting. Interestingly, Coco Gauff was even spotted trying her luck in “cross-training.” Be it fencing or beach volleyball, she tried almost everything in the last few weeks to get herself ready for the upcoming season.

Gauff’s strength and conditioning coach, Stephane Del Soglio even shared a glimpse of her intense training session with the caption, “Pre-season part 1! A little sneak peek of pre-season pro athlete training. A little bit of fun, and a lot of hard work!! Let’s go get it.” Now, the question is, can she go and get the 2025 AO, though?

Former WTA pro picks Coco Gauff as “one of the favorites” at the 2025 AO

Serena Williams’ childhood coach Rick Macci is also optimistic about Coco Gauff in the 2025 season. He even predicted that Gauff is well poised to overtake Iga Swiatek as the leading force on the WTA Tour in 2025. After that, on December 23, Macci tweeted, “Every player will make adjustments in the off-season. If those adjustments technically strategically and physically help them MENTALLY then Major League Grand Slam improvement and unwavering belief is on the horizon in 2025. @CocoGauff.“

Even, American tennis star, Christopher Eubanks recently, shared his thoughts on Coco Gauff’s chances in the 2025 season during the Tennis Channel Live podcast. “We’ve seen so much greatness from her at such a young age, I think it’s safe to say that she will become world number one. I think although it’s a big points deficit, I think she can do it next year.”

Talking about points, Coco Gauff ended the season with 6530 and that’s 2886 behind the number one Aryna Sabalenka (9416)! Further elaborating on the reason why he picked Gauff for being the number one in 2025, Eubanks said, “Her highest ranking in 2021 was 19, in 2022 it was 4 in the world, in 2023 it was 3 in the world, and in 2024 it was 2 in the world. It’s trending towards progress each and every year. This year was number two, there’s only one place to go from there.“

What are Coco Gauff’s chances at the 2025 AO realistically Former WTA pro, Andrea Petkovic appeared on The Rennae Stubbs Podcast on December 16 and made some interesting comments on Gauff’s chances at the next year’s AO! She said, “I think that Coco Gough will be one of the favorites.” Petkovic further 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.”

What do you think about Coco Gauff’s chances at the 2025 AO? Can she lift the trophy in Melbourne?