Coco Gauff, Ben Shelton, & Frances Tiafoe delightedly laud Caitlin Clark for winning 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year honors

Coco Gauff, Frances Tiafoe, and Ben Shelton have hailed Caitlin Clark for being named the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year. The Indiana Fever guard nearly unanimously won the prestigious award, securing 66 out of 67 votes. This accolade marks her as the third player from the Fever to receive this honor, following in the footsteps of Aliyah Boston (2023) and Tamika Catchings (2002).

Drafted first overall in 2024, Clark had an exceptional rookie season, starting all 40 regular season games and earning numerous accolades, including four Rookie of the Month titles and three Player of the Week honors. She made history as the first WNBA rookie to record a triple-double and set a league record with 19 assists in a single game.

Additionally, she led the league with 122 three-pointers and set a single-season record with 337 assists. Her contributions were instrumental in leading the Fever to the third-highest points-per-game average in the league.

Averaging 19.2 points and 8.4 assists per game, Clark has not only earned her the Rookie of the Year title but also a spot on the WNBA All-Rookie Team including Kamilla Cardoso, Leonie Fiebich, Rickea Jackson, and Angel Reese. For her outstanding performance, Clark will receive $5,150 and a commemorative trophy.

The accolades were shared on social media, with Gauff, Tiafoe, and Shelton posting their commendations on their respective Instagram stories.

Coco Gauff, Ben Shelton, and Frances Tiafoe's Instagram stories/ @cocogauff; @benshelton; @bigfoe1998

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"If I could go in another life, I would love to play at the same time as Caitlin Clark" - Coco Gauff

Coco Gauff at the 2024 National Bank Open (Image source: Getty)

Coco Gauff shared that she once contemplated pursuing basketball before ultimately choosing tennis, recalling how her father, Corey, believed she would have been a strong candidate for the WNBA.

Gauff then referenced former Iowa standout Caitlin Clark, expressing that she’d love to be on the same team as the latter to see if she could guard her on the court in an alternate life.

"Yeah, it's funny because my dad was actually talking about that. He was, like, 'You would have been right up there. You would have been a sophomore. I would have had you shooting Js and everything,'" Coco Gauff said in a post-match press conference at the 2024 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

"I don't know if I would be that type of player, but I will say if I could go in another life I would love to play on the same time as Caitlin Clark just to see if I could guard her. Obviously now I definitely couldn't, but I don't know, if I trained for it, just to see," she added.

Coco Gauff is currently in Beijing for her China Open campaign. The fourth-seeded American reached the semifinals where she will take on 15th seed Paula Badosa on October 5. The winner of this match will face either Karolina Muchova or fifth seed Zheng Qinwen in the final.

Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton are currently participating in the Shanghai Masters in China. Tiafoe and his doubles partner, Alexander Bublik, started their ATP Masters 1000 campaign with a first-round loss, falling 2-6, 2-6 to Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Santiago Gonzalez. In singles, the 13th-seeded Tiafoe received a bye into the second round, where he will face local wildcard Zhou Yi on October 5.

Meanwhile, Shelton also earned a bye into the singles second round, where he secured a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Denis Shapovalov. The 16th-seeded American will now move on to the third round to face Roberto Carballes Baena.

Shelton will also participate in the doubles event with Arthur Fils. The American-French pair will take on Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic in the first round on October 5.