Coco Gauff will be one of the favorites to win the upcoming French Open for a couple of reasons. First of all, she’s a player who has stood in the final before, having done so in 2022.
That run was a pretty interesting one because Gauff wasn’t playing her best tennis or close to her best tennis, but she had a bit of a fortunate draw overall, and it was a bit of a weird event where most of the top names kind of fell apart, so Iga Swiatek essentially had a run to the trophy.
The Polish player had no problems beating Gauff in the final, who simply wasn’t really ready to win the trophy at that point in her career. Gauff was still very young, her game wasn’t as developed as it is right now, especially her baseline game, which is what clay tennis comes down to.
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She was mostly winning matches based on her athleticism, as she was a supreme mover who was able to track down many balls and send them over the net, which can be a very good tactic on clay. Since then, however, the tour has moved to a more aggressive approach.
Most players are now packing serious power into their shots, so that’s not enough anymore. You have to actually be a consistent hitter, which Gauff has managed to do as well.
So having that experience will surely help. She also won a Grand Slam in the meantime, so she has that experience to fall back upon as well. She’s also won some other big trophies and generally developed her game into something more complete and dangerous to the rest of the tour.
She’s essentially matured as a player, and as one of the best players in the world, naturally she will be one of those capable of winning the trophy. On top of all that, she’s just always been a very good clay performer.
Last year, she made the semifinals, where Iga Swiatek once again proved better, but she has a 72-28 record on clay all time, so it’s pretty clear that this is a surface where she can do well. The biggest reason why she’s going to be favored is because of how she’s played on the surface this year.
Gauff’s 2025 Clay Season
As we said in the title, anything less than a final would be a major disappointment for Gauff, but even making the final might not be enough. Her goal in Paris will be to win the trophy, and that is what the proper measuring stick will be.
A final would be an interesting result in a vacuum, but overall, it would still be a disappointing outing. Having had an excellent clay season so far has raised the bar for what would be a good clay season, and winning the event would be that.
At the time of writing this, Gauff has an 11-2 record on clay. That’s really good and among the best marks of the season. She started off in Stuttgart, where she made the quarterfinals, losing to Jasmine Paolini. Then she made her way to Madrid, which is a unique clay event, but that didn’t bother Gauff.
She made the final there, losing to Aryna Sabalenka in two sets. The run to the final included massive wins over Mirra Andreeva, who is a fantastic clay player herself. She also bested Iga Swiatek, who has had her number on clay so far. It was a battering, 6-1, 6-1, so quite notable.
Now in Rome, she once again had a tremendous run, making the final, in which she will contest against Jasmine Paolini. There is an expectation that this time around she will be able to beat Paolini as opposed to Stuttgart because she has looked a tiny bit better than the Italian.
Whatever happens in that final won’t change the fact that she has had a tremendous warm-up to Roland Garros. The expectations should be adjusted to that because she has been a very consistent performer whose level has been very sharp.
That level is certainly good enough to win Roland Garros, and now it comes down to the draw and whether she can actually show up in the way that matters when it matters the most.
The expectations are certainly there, and anything but a final would be a huge disappointment. Even making a final might not be enough, considering how good she’s played. Either way, Gauff is a name to keep an eye on when it comes to the upcoming French Open because she will be prominently featured, whether as the winner or as a player who failed to win it.
