Coco Gauff hasn’t won a Grand Slam this season, but she could have learned more lessons about defeat. After an up-and-down season, Gauff went back to the drawing board and changed coaches after the US Open.

From there, Gauff enjoyed immediate improvement and began to sprint to the finish line of the marathon season while other players faltered.

The 20-year-old American superstar entered the WTA finals as world number 3. She defeated the top two players, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, before eventually eliminating Qinwen Zheng in the final. win the WTA finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Just as critics made the mistake of underestimating Gauff’s determination on the tennis court, they made the mistake of forgetting that the Gen-Z athlete is operational with her social media posts.

After beating Zheng in the WTA finals, Gauff did everything right. She thanked everyone possible and handled the moment with class. But Gauff had to fire off a few posts on X (formerly Twitter) to remind her haters that she’s the real deal.

At 9:16 pm EST Saturday night, Gauff posted, “lol safe to say we beat the bad season accusations.” Seven minutes later, Gauff posted two photos of herself and the trophy with the following message.

“Also, I know I tend to focus on the ‘naysayers/haters’ but this is really for all my supporters! I’m gonna hold it down win or lose! Thank you for that. I see you and I appreciate you And I know some of you are a little petty like me, so it feels good to shut them up.”

At 9:16 PM EST, Gauff shared a photo of herself celebrating on the court alongside a screenshot of the lyrics to a Tyler, The Creator song that mentions her. She wrote: “Tyler tried to tell you.”

Additionally, “In all seriousness, I am so grateful for all the support over the last few weeks. To win the last tournament of the season and also have it be the second biggest title of my career so far is crazy. Wow WTA FINALS CHAMPION.

All glory to God indeed. I am eternally grateful for the life I get to live and to have moments like this makes all the hours/sacrifice I put into it worth it. time to rest a bit but then it’s back to grinding for the szn of the year (sic).”

Gauff is currently world No. 3 with a 48-15 record with two singles titles. Tennis fans can follow Sports Illustrated Serve on SI for all the top sports news.