Why Miami Open could be the tournament Coco Gauff finally finds her mojo in 2025

Coco Gauff finished the 2024 season on a high note by winning the WTA Finals, essentially proving herself among the best of the best. With a stellar finish like that, most fans assumed that the American would take an even bigger leap in 2025 and possibly cement herself as one of the three best players in the world, if not the best player in the world.

However, in reality, the opposite happened, as Gauff cemented herself only as a player who failed to make that leap, at least in the first three months of the season.

For a while, she did kind of look like she was taking that leap. Gauff was playing fantastic tennis at the United Cup, beating Iga Swiatek among other players, but then it kind of fell apart at the Australian Open. A very shaky performance against Paula Badosa saw her beaten in the quarterfinal, and what followed was an utterly horrifying stretch in the Middle East as Gauff was beaten in both matches she played there, failing to win a single set in those two matches.

So plainly, she simply hasn’t been playing at the level necessary to win matches, and the Indian Wells performance hasn’t really looked much better either. The American did win matches but again stumbled the first time she faced a really good player, getting beaten by Belinda Bencic.

In fairness to Gauff, Indian Wells was never a court much to her liking, and she’s always struggled there. Miami is a bit different, and while she has never won it or had a deep run here, it’s a court that, on profile alone, should suit the American a bit more.

Coco Gauff at the 2025 Miami Open

TENNIS: MAR 20 Miami Open - Source: Getty

So what can we expect from Gauff at the Miami Open? Can she turn it around? Certainly, and she has looked pretty decent so far. In fact, the first match at the 1000 level event was a 6-0, 6-0 win over the 2020 Australian Open champion, Sofia Kenin.

Now, it’s tricky to say whether this result is simply impressive from Gauff’s point of view or shockingly bad from Kenin’s perspective, but what we can conclude is that the American is feeling much better in Miami than she did in Indian Wells.

The stats of that match do tell us that Gauff played a pretty strong match, as she was amazing on her serve, rarely dropping any points. She also dominated on the serve of Kenin, winning the majority of those points. And if she can bring that sort of level and consistency in the upcoming matches, she might have a chance to turn around her season.

It’s much needed for Gauff because, after this, we’re heading into the clay season. That part of the season has generally been really kind to her because her quickness and defensive prowess frustrate essentially anybody who can’t hit through her, and that’s the vast majority of players.

The slowness of the clay court adds to that, and it’s not a surprise that she won the French Open in doubles and made the final in singles. Getting to that part of the season with a confidence boost would be massive for Gauff, so finishing off the Miami Masters in style is almost imperative for the 21-year-old.

The first match tells us that she’s motivated to do so because the win over Kenin featured a very determined and focused Gauff—very similar to what we saw at the US Open a few years ago when she won, but also at the WTA Finals last year.

When she truly locks in like that, Gauff can beat anybody, and if that happens this week at the Miami Masters, she can turn the really poor start of the season around. Her next opponent is Maria Sakkari, a player she bested at the Indian Wells Masters last week.

If the American comes out with a comfortable win, she will only feel more and more sure of her tennis, and with each win, that will increase. Once she gets to a stage of total comfort, there won’t be anybody able to stop Gauff, who might just end up lifting her maiden Miami Open title.