Coco Gauff entered the United Cup with renewed confidence after a challenging 2024 season. Plagued by serve woes for much of the year, Gauff displayed incredible resilience, culminating in triumphant victories at the China Open and the WTA Finals and a career-high ranking of world No. 2. Following a well-deserved Thanksgiving break spent with friends and family, Gauff dedicated herself to rigorous training, and now she’s back on court, ready to make her mark in 2025. Amid all of it, she drew a “pretty chill” comparison of team events and off season.

On Wednesday, the American duo of Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz halted China’s impressive United Cup run, securing their team’s place in the semifinals with crucial singles victories.

Gauff battled past Zhang Shuai 7-6 (4), 6-2 to give Team USA an early lead in the United Cup quarterfinals.Zhang Shuai, a late replacement for the injured Gao Xinyu, put up a strong fight, breaking Gauff three times in the opening set. However, the world No. 3 raised her level in the second set to secure the victory, 7-6 (4), 6-2. Taylor Fritz secured a commanding 6-4, 6-4 victory over Zhang Zhizhen, propelling Team USA into the United Cup semifinals.

Soon after her win, she shared her thoughts on the team-based tournament in the post-match conference. Gauff explained how the atmosphere differs from the high-stakes Grand Slams.

“I mean, I want to win all the time, so I wouldn’t say it’s more stakes or not. Definitely, a lot more relaxed on the changeovers, laughing a little bit more, you know, just talking. In general, things that we don’t get when we’re playing our regular tournament. Yeah, I think it’s great to start the year off on this relaxed vibe, especially coming from the offseason, which is pretty chill. Yeah, I think this is a good transition into our regular schedule,” she said.

Gauff had a mixed bag of results in 2024. Despite achieving 50 victories and only 15 defeats, her Grand Slam performances were somewhat inconsistent. She reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and French Open, but unfortunately, she was unable to progress further. At Wimbledon and the US Open, her campaign ended in the quarterfinals.

Alongside, Gauff dealt with a packed calendar and scheduling concerns. “I feel like a lot of times people think you’re done, but really at 3 a.m., then you have press, then you have to shower, eat and a lot of times people do treatment,” Gauff told reporters in June, when asked about her thoughts on late matches, a topic which has caused widespread debate for a number of years.

“That’s probably not going to bed until 5 a.m. at the earliest, maybe 6 or even 7 a.m. I definitely think it’s not healthy and maybe not fair for those who have to play late because it does ruin your schedule.”

Leaving all that behind, now looks to add a new year resolution to ensure that her off-court time stays intact.

Coco Gauff opens up on her New Year resolutions for 2025

During an on-court interview, Gauff revealed her literary goal for the year. “I’ma try to read more books. This year I read like 16 (books) or something like that, so I’ma try to go for like 22. Let’s go for that,” she said with determination. Remember ahead of the ecotrans Ladies Open back in 2024, she posted mid-year progress on her reading challenge?

“[The reading challenge] started because I loved reading as a kid and I kind of lost it when I got older,” Gauff had told reporters. “So at first my goal was to read 12 books, one per month. Then my boyfriend has this thing where he reads the amount of books as the year we’re in, so 24 in 2024, 23 in 2023.”

For the bibliophiles out there, here’s Coco’s Reading List:

• “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• “Daisy Jones & The Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander
• “Seven Days in June” by Tia Williams
• “After Dark” by Haruki Murakami
• “This is Amiko, Do You Copy?” by Natsuko Imamura
• “Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)” by Rebecca Yarros
• “Blue Hour” by Tiffany Clarke Harrison
• “Riot Baby” by Tochi Onyebuchi
• “Finding Me” by Viola Davis
• “If He Had Been With Me” by Laura Nowlin
• “Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)” by Rebecca Yarros

Much like Gauff, Swiatek launched a 12-book challenge at the beginning of the 2023 season and even encouraged fans to #ReadWithIga on World Book Day, saying, “I’ve already read 5 or 6 books (I lost count of how many).”

Well, be it her goal to read 22 books or her urge to win it all the time, Gauff is driven towards continuous improvement, not only as a player but as an individual.