Coco Gauff Targets a Strong Start to the 2026 Season Ahead of the Australian Open

Coco Gauff won one Grand Slam title in 2025, at the French Open.

Coco Gauff Targets a Strong Start to the 2026 Season Ahead of the Australian Open

Coco Gauff (Image via X/Coco Gauff)

Coco Gauff is set to kick off her 2026 season at the United Cup in Perth, Australia. The 21-year-old didn’t participate in any exhibition this pre-season, making sure she used her time on the court effectively. Gauff has now revealed her target for next season ahead of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Gauff started the 2025 season in the best possible way, securing victories over Leylah Fernandez of Canada and Donna Vekic of Croatia during the round-robin stage of the United Cup. She then went on to defeat China’s Shuai Zhang and later the Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova, helping the United States reach the final.

The World No.3 beat Iga Swiatek in the final of the tournament, before Taylor Fritz clinched the trophy for America after beating Hubert Hurkacz in the second singles match. The American star used the triumph as a big motivation going into the Australian Open, but failed to reach the final of the Grand Slam tournament.

She crashed out of the Melbourne Grand Slam after losing to Paula Badosa in the quarter-finals. However, in the second major tournament of 2025, she defeated Aryna Sabalenka in three sets to win the tournament, her second career Grand Slam, having claimed her first at the US Open in 2023.

Gauff is seeking to follow the same path in 2026 by competing at the United Cup. She will lead the US team at the event following her extraordinary performance at last year’s tournament. During an interview with Nine Australia, she admitted that she’s looking forward to starting the season pretty strong:

I mean, it’s a team event, so I feel like the pressure is off and it’s more about the team… Last year, I felt like it started off my season pretty strong, so I’m looking forward to hopefully doing the same thing. But you never know what to expect at the start of the year. You’ve been practising for a few weeks straight and hopefully the things I’ve been working on translate over.

Gauff won just two titles last season, with her first coming at Roland Garros and the second at the Wuhan Open. However, she failed to defend her WTA Finals title as she crashed out in the round robin stage after managing to win just one match. She lost to Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula in the group stage.

Coco Gauff super excited to compete at the 2026 United Cup

The United States will play its first tie at the United Cup on January 3 against Argentina. Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz are expected to take on Solana Sierra and Sebastian Baez in the singles matches, respectively. The second group stage match will be against Spain, who are without Carlos Alcaraz, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Paula Badosa.

Coco Gauff (via X/The Tennis Letter)
Coco Gauff (via X/The Tennis Letter)

Jaume Munar and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro will represent the European country. The winner of the group will advance to the quarter-finals of the United Cup. During the aforementioned interview, Gauff admitted that she’s looking forward to working together with her teammate Fritz at the tournament:

I’m looking forward to being on the team with (Fritz) again. He’s a pretty confident player and very, very sure of himself. I know we’re going to another beach… so, I guess, experiencing another beach is going to be pretty cool. I’m super excited to be here, and I’m looking forward to another United Cup.

Gauff will hope to lead the United States of America to its third United Cup triumph, while keeping an eye on the Australian Open. Her best run at the first Grand Slam of the season was in 2024, when she reached the semi-finals before losing to Aryna Sabalenka.

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