"The season’s already so much by ourselves": Coco Gauff skips ASB Classic to compete in 'higher-level' United Cup

America’s Coco Gauff has decided to skip the ASB Classic event in 2025. The 20-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing women’s tennis, along with the likes of Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka and Poland’s Iga Swiatek.

Gauff has recently announced that she will skip the upcoming event. She was quoted in a report where she explained that his objective is to play in the United Cup which, according to her, is a ‘higher level of competition. “I love Auckland. I won twice there. It was a great tournament,” said Gauff. “For me I wanted to play a higher level of competition and also a team competition. I had a lot of fun with the Paris Olympics. The season’s already so much by ourselves that it’s nice to mix it up.

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The decision was a surprising one, considering that Gauff would have been the defending champion this year at the mega-event. She lifted the title last year after beating Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the final with a score of 6-7, 6-3, 6-3. It was the second consecutive year that the reigning world number three lifted the title in Auckland. She won it in 2023 as well after beating Rebeka Masarova in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-1.

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Gauff will now be in action in the United Cup. The team-based competition will be played in two cities in Australia. Team USA are placed in Group A along with Canada and Croatia. Gauff, in the same report, also talked in detail about her objective in the United Cup. “I think for all of us the main focus is the Australian Open and doing well there,” she said. “We’re all pumped up to play Canada or whoever. I think we all want to win. It’s not an easy start to the first match of the year, playing Leylah (Fernandez) and Felix (Auger-Aliassime). But we’re up, ready for it. We all want a couple of good matches to start off the year.”

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