The parties that were supposed to happen in Atlanta on Sunday, February 5, 2017 would still be talked about to this day had the Atlanta Falcons just finished strong. The Super Bowl was shaping up to be a blowout, the Falcons had cruised ahead 28-3 over Tom Brady and the Patriots through three quarters of football. With a Falcons championship within reach, Hennessy and Ace were on ice all across the city. 

But in an unsurprising turn of events Brady put his team on his back and proceeded to do the A-Town Stomp for the next eighteen minutes, morphing back into the clutch quarterback everyone loved to hate. The clock couldn’t tick fast enough for the Falcons, who had become visibly shaken, and the Patriots clawed back into the game with the determination of a team with nothing to lose.

Once the Patriots forced overtime, you already knew what it was. The Patriots would win the game 34-28, and Brady would leave with his fifth Super Bowl trophy. Reminding us, “it’s not about how you start—it’s how you finish.”

From all the noise about her forehand and service struggles, to not defending her US Open championship, to chatter about her being “overrated,” you’d almost be inclined to believe that Coco Gauff had a downright bad 2024 season. But 3 titles and $9 million dollars later, how many players aside from Sablalenka, Swiatek, and maybe Diana Schnaider, had a better season than that? Don’t worry, I’ll wait. Not only did Coco Gauff start the season strong, defending her Auckland title and reaching the semis at the Australian Open, she finished the year even stronger in what I consider a bit of a reset season.

Last weekend in Riyadh, Coco Gauff inscribed her name in the 2024 tennis history books by scooping up her first year-end championship at the WTA Finals. The 20-year-old American sensation held firm to her game and her conviction to beat China’s Zheng Qinwen in a 3 hour marathon. The final ended in a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory, earning Gauff the Billie Jean King Trophy, her ninth career singles title.

In the longest match at the WTA Finals since 2008, Gauff battled back from just about every pitfall imaginable, twice down a break in the third set and even staring down a match point at 5-4. With what seems to be an improved forehand (a slightly more compact swing with an earlier contact point), and an immunity to panic, Gauff managed to dig deep and flip the script when it mattered, reminiscent of her US Open Championship match against Sabalenka last year.

In the third set, Zheng found herself serving for the match. Gauff, however, managed to break back with the determination and urgency of someone ready to set their Outlook to “out-of-office” on a Friday afternoon before heading to the Maldives. Gauff was all business in the tiebreak, sprinting to a 6-0 lead and finally closing Zheng out on her fifth match point. 

As a reward, she took home a cool $4.8 million—the heftiest payout in WTA Tour history. And if a Brink’s truckload of cash wasn’t enough, Gauff’s victory locked in her No.3 world ranking for the second year running, thanks to an end of year run where she won 12 of her last 14 matches. 

If Gauff’s been dazzling, she’s been untouchable in finals. This victory brings her hard-court final streak to a pristine 8-0, a record now boosted by her recent 1000 win in Beijing. Gauff also became the youngest WTA Finals champ since 2004, and joins an elite club of American greats (Evert, Austin and S. Williams) to clinch the WTA Finals before 21. At only twenty years old, it’s safe to say Gauff is still just getting started.

In Riyadh, Gauff had a statement victory (6-3, 6-4) over Iga Swiatek, who has undoubtedly been thorn in Gauff’s side for some time now. And in the semis, she pressured Aryna Sabalenka into another 40+ unforced error performance in a 7-6, 6-3 victory. That’s right. Gauff took out the top two players in the world and the Olympic Gold medalist in the same week. Forehand? Serve? Overrated? Say what now?

Sure, Gauff didn’t add to her Grand Slam title count in 2024, and sure there were likely a few tournaments she could have gone deeper in. But with the pressure of the US Open off her back and the introduction of Mark Daly in the coaches box, Gauff went from work in progress to straight up progress in a very short period of time.

In the book “Finish Strong,” author Dan Green outlines several key requirements to push past personal limits and achieve lasting success, several of which Gauff, like Brady, embodied this season. Here are a few that come to mind.

• Cultivate a Winning Mindset: To finish strong, it’s essential to embrace a mentality that welcomes challenges as growth opportunities rather than obstacles. With Gauff’s background, family support, and faith, she’s always been well poised mentally, allowing her to view setbacks as opportunities to grow and get better.

• Being Willing to Adapt: If there’s one positive takeaway from Gauff’s time with Brad Gilbert, it should be the notion of “Winning Ugly.” Some days on the court, things may not go according to plan, a player can take you out of your rhythm. How you handle it is up to you, and Gauff is no stranger to playing the cards she’s dealt some days.

• Focus on Progress, Not Perfection: It’s important for Gauff to stay focused on continuous improvement instead of aiming to be flawless (this means you too Naomi Osaka). Each step forward, no matter how small, is a sign of progress, which should be celebrated and rewarded as part of the journey.

• Learn from Failures: Like every player, Gauff will have disappointing days, and for her age, she’s been thoughtful and deliberate about leveraging her failures as lessons, gleaning insights to improve for her future.

For Coco Gauff, the 2024 season may not have included a Grand Slam title, but she didn’t end the season without reminding us who she is. Just like Tom Brady’s legendary comeback against the Falcons, Gauff’s story this year wasn’t about perfection; it was about resilience and finishing strong, no matter the seasonal ups and downs.

At just 20, Gauff is showing the tennis world that setbacks are just setups for the evolution of her greatness. From the haters critiquing her forehand to the “overrated” hype, Gauff brushed it all off, and orchestrated an epic year-end run that saw her take out the world’s top two players in one weekend. She’s low-key checking off all the boxes for defining a champion, right down to her record-breaking payday in Riyadh.

Gauff reminded us about the importance of finishing. Through her constant growth and refinements of her game, she’s reiterated that she’s not a fluke, but a force. Coco Gauff has been here a minute and she’s going to be here a while longer. So, to all the doubters, Coco just served notice—she’s playing the long game, and she’s only warming up. Tyler tried to tell y’all.