Coco Gauff has been told that she needs to win two Grand Slams per year for a decade if she is to stand any chance of reaching 20 majors with Rennae Stubbs offering a mixed assessment of the American’s 2025 season.
Aged just 20, Gauff doubled her Grand Slam tally this year as she won the French Open to go with the US Open trophy she lifted in 2023 while she also won one WTA 1000 title and finished runner-up at two more 1000 events.
The American finished the campaign at No 3 in the WTA Rankings with world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No 2 Iga Swiatek well ahead on the list.
Gauff will no doubt be happy with what she achieved this year, but four-time women’s doubles Grand Slam winner Stubbs says the 20-year-old will be disappointed in the bigger scheme of things.
Speaking on the Rennae Stubbs podcast, she said: “She’ll be super disappointed in a lot of ways, but then the other side of me is like, no… the reason that flipped in my mind is when you said it’s because Coco said she wants to win the most Grand Slams. She’s put it out there that she wants to be one of the greatest of all time. That’s her words, not mine.
“She has consistently sort of put it out there and not been afraid to say that she wants to be as great as Venus [Williams] or Serena [Williams]. And I’m like, okay, well, they won a lot of major titles when they were 18, 19, 20.
“They were racking at that point at your age, and you’ve got two unbelievable, at your age to do what you’ve done. So if you want to get to 20, you gotta win two for 10 years, or you’re gonna win a lot in a short period of time, depending on how long you want to play for.
“So I think in some respects that’s disappointing because she wants to rack them up.”
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For the record, 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena won the 1999 US Open as an 18-year-old and then had to wait nearly three years to double her tally in 2002, but that year was fruitful as she won the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open before turning 20.
Venus, meanwhile, won her first two titles in the year she turned 20 as she lifted the Wimbledon and US Open crowns and the following year she won those events again.
Although Gauff is determined to become one of the best, she has also made it clear that winning is not the be-all and end-all.
Stubbs is impressed by that attitude, but also feels there were a lot of concerning moments for the American during 2025.
“The other part of me is like, Coco is such a balanced human being that she has also talked about ‘I know that winning doesn’t define me as a person’ and she talked about that a lot this year.
“I don’t know whether she’s going to therapy or what’s happening, but she has got this different perspective on winning and losing as well, where she’s very adamant that it doesn’t change her as a person.
“So in that respect, she would look at this year as a success right and be like, I’m doing great, I’m making a lot of money, I won another major title.
“But also at the same time, we saw the breakdowns, the crying on the court again, the double-faulting, the forehand woes as well. Coco this year had such a Coco year where you’re like, ‘oh, she’s unbelievable,’ and then you’re like ‘oh, what is going on?’
“I don’t know how she would look at this year, I think this again, if she looks at it like Sabalanka, which was a learning year of what can I get better at in 2026, then sure this was a great year for her to look at winning a major title and then looking at it and going ‘okay, I know how much better I can get.’
“There are a lot of parts of her game that she can get better at.”
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