Coco Gauff recently had a humorous reaction to unintentionally striking an unusual pose during a training session ahead of her campaign at the 2025 WTA Finals. She likened her pose to that of the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson.
This year, Gauff will be defending her title at the season-ending tournament. In 2024, she defeated Jessica Pegula and Iga Świątek but lost to Barbora Krejčíková in the round-robin stages. In the semifinals, she eliminated Aryna Sabalenka and then triumphed over Zheng Qinwen in the final to claim the title.
Coco Gauff Reacts to Unintentionally Striking a ‘Michael Jackson’ Pose During WTA Finals Training Session
The 2025 WTA Finals are scheduled to take place from November 1 to November 8, 2025, at the King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Along with Gauff, players such as Sabalenka, Świątek, Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys, Pegula, Elena Rybakina, and Jasmine Paolini have also qualified for the tournament.
The season-ending tournament will feature two groups: Group Steffi Graf and Group Serena Williams. Group Graf includes Sabalenka, Gauff, Pegula, and Paolini, while Group Williams consists of Świątek, Anisimova, Rybakina, and Keys. Mirra Andreeva and Ekaterina Alexandrova are the alternates for the event.
Gauff will begin her title defense at the 2025 WTA Finals by facing Jessica Pegula in her first round-robin match. The two players have met seven times on the WTA Tour, with Pegula winning four of those encounters. Their most recent matchup occurred in the final of the 2025 Wuhan Open, where Gauff emerged victorious with a scoreline of 6-4, 7-5 and claimed the title.
The World No. 3 is already in Riyadh and has begun her training for the WTA Finals. She recently took to social media and shared a picture of herself playing a shot, humorously pointing out that her pose resembled Michael Jackson’s. In her next post, she shared a picture of Jackson striking a similar pose.
“why is this giving michael jackson….” Gauff captioned her Instagram story.
“😭,” she added.
Leading up to the WTA Finals, Gauff competed on the Asian swing of the Tour, with her last tournament being the 2025 Wuhan Open. There, she defeated qualifier Moyuka Uchijima (6-1, 6-0), wild card Zhang Shuai (6-3, 6-2), Laura Siegemund (6-3, 6-0), and Paolini (6-4, 6-3) to reach the final.
In the championship match, the World No. 3 defeated Pegula with a score of 6-4, 7-5, claiming the 2025 Wuhan Open title, her third WTA 1000 title and her 11th career singles title on the WTA Tour.
