Coco Gauff draws inspiration from surprise WNBA star A'ja Wilson amid challenging tennis season

Coco Gauff is channelling energy from basketball's A'ja Wilson to maintain her composure during a tumultuous year.

The young tennis star , fresh from her China Open win, has charged into the Wuhan Open quarter-finals, setting her sights on consecutive titles.

As a basketball fan, Gauff has been drawing inspiration from WNBA sensation Wilson , even after Wilsons Las Vegas Aces faced a crushing defeat by the New York Liberty in the playoffs, shattering their chances of a historic third straight championship. Reflecting on her tennis journey, Gauff referenced Wilsons response to the setback.

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"People don't realize people have great moments in sports and bad moments," said Gauff. "It doesn't mean anything. 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'. You need to go through losses to realize what you need to do to evolve. Tennis fans need to be more accepting of that."

Despite the ups and downs of the year and reaching world number two in June following her French Open semi-final run and doubles victory, Gauff stays determined to end her season on a high.

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Gauff's year was marked by early exits at Wimbledon and the Olympics, and she was unable to defend her title at the US Open, losing to fellow American Emma Navarro. However, she rebounded strongly at the China Open.

"When the season is as long as it is, it's very hard to play great tennis from January to November," Gauff admitted. "People do it, but it's hard to do it year in, year out. There's obviously going to be a bad two tournaments, then you're able to pick it back up."

Following her China Open win, Gauff is competing in Wuhan this week and has already beaten Viktoriya Tomova and Marta Kostyuk to set up a quarterfinal match against Magda Linette on Friday.

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