Gauff: While more titles were desired, consistency was biggest improvement in 2026
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Coco Gauff would have liked to leave Indian Wells with more than one title to show for her season. But when she looked back on the year Thursday, she kept coming back to how often she’d given herself a chance to win one.
Gauff’s season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz ended with a third-place finish in her group at the FAGE WTA Finals. She won Cincinnati, reached the finals in Miami and Rome and made the semifinals at Wimbledon, the US Open, Dubai and Toronto. For Gauff, those results reflected something she’d set out to do at the start of the year after seasons that, in her telling, swung between high highs and low lows.
Find out where to watch the FAGE WTA Finals at Indian Wells
“Post Indian Wells, I pretty much was consistent from that point on, and I think that’s something that I can continue to build on,” Gauff said after her final round-robin match Thursday. “The more I put myself in those semis and finals positions, I have faith I’ll take more titles.”
Gauff finished with a 49-15 record on tour, capped off by her fifth straight appearance at the WTA Finals. She earned seven top 10 wins, of her career 40, in 2026, and advanced to at least the quarterfinals at three of the four Grand Slams.
She also improved upon her historically worst surface, grass, by making the final four at Wimbledon and was one drop shot away from making the final. Prior, her best finish at the All England Club was the Round of 16, three separate times.
"Anytime I don’t have a Slam in the season, it’s always going to be more to be desired," Gauff said. "I definitely think I made pushes in areas and improvements, particularly in the grass court area. That was part of my game I wanted to improve, and I improved that."
In addition to her consistency results-wise, she made strides on what was her biggest weakness, her serve. Ahead of the US Open in 2025, she brought onboard biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan to her team to improve the long-term sustainability of her serve.
At Cincinnati, she said it was "night and day" in terms of the player she was last year compared to this year.
"At the end of the day, you can do everything right in practice, but it's in the replicating the pressure moments that you only get on the match court to make it better," Gauff said in August. "I think I had some tough moments with it, but I feel like it's getting in the right direction and definitely becoming really close to the place I want it to be."
Gauff will open her 2027 season on the WTA Tour representing the United States at the United Cup. The USA was placed in Group A, and will compete in Perth.
