Rennae Stubbs rubbishes claims of Coco Gauff tanking match against Barbora Krejcikova to knock out Iga Swiatek from WTA Finals

Rennae Stubbs doesn't think Coco Gauff lost her match intentionally just to oust Iga Swiatek from the WTA Finals.

Rennae Stubbs rubbishes claims of Coco Gauff tanking match against Barbora Krejcikova to knock out Iga Swiatek from WTA Finals

Coco Gauff, Rennae Stubbs, Iga Swiatek, Barbora Krejcikova (Images via X, NBC)

Did Coco Gauff intentionally lose her last group-stage match against Barbora Krejcikova to knock out Iga Swiatek? That’s what a section of fans on social media claimed.

But Serena Williams‘ former coach Rennae Stubbs rubbished those claims and explained why Gauff probably did not have Swiatek’s situation in the back of her mind when she entered the court to lock horns with Krejcikova. Gauff had defeated Jessica Pegula in her first match, then beat Swiatek in the next match, before faltering against Krejcikova.

YouTube video

The defeat in that match eliminated Swiatek who arrived in Riyadh as the defending champion. Krejcikova on the other hand, proceeded to the semifinals. Gauff’s defeat also meant a clash with World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the last four, who according to Stubbs is the ‘best player on hard courts’ this season. Stubbs asked the fans to ‘stop with the nonsense’ of’ Gauff losing the match purposefully to kick out Swiatek.

Somebody wrote about, ‘Coco tanked the match against Krejcikova so Iga couldn’t get through to the semifinals.’ No, that’s not how it works. First of all, Coco says, ‘I’m going to lose to Krejcikova and then have the possibility of playing Krejcikova again or I’ve already beaten Iga and now if I lose to Krejcikova then I get to play Sabalenka in the semis. Yeah!’

Rennae Stubbs said on The Rennae Stubbs podcast

In the two semifinals, Gauff defeated Sabalenka, while Qinwen Zheng went past Krejcikova. The American then eked out a victory over Zheng in the summit clash to clinch her maiden WTA Finals trophy.

Rennae Stubbs argues about Coco Gauff’s outfits on WTA Tour

Rennae Stubbs and co-host of The Rennae Stubbs podcast Caitlin Thompson discussed Coco Gauff‘s outfits for the 2024 WTA Finals. The 20-year-old wore an all-purple New Balance kit, which received praise from fans and Thompson.

Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff (via X)

Thompson feels Gauff often wears revealing clothes but gave a ’10/10′ to the outfit for the WTA Finals. Stubbs however thinks all of Gauff’s ‘stuff is so good.’

Her stuff is often good but a lot of times they put her in extremely tight and very revealing clothes.

Caitlin Thompson said

The WTA Finals title was Gauff’s third title of the season, after the ASB Classic and the China Open. She is 52/16 this season and will end it as World No. 3. The trophy at the year-end championships was also Gauff’s ninth singles title.