Who’s old enough to remember the WTA’s Big Three (Iga Świątek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina) distancing themselves from the field? Who’s old enough to remember Coco Gauff’s janky forehand and stagnating career? Who’s old enough to remember when the WTA pulled out of autocratic countries citing ethical concerns? The plots change fast in tennis. Within the next week, the WTA is likely to announce that, having left China, it is heading to … Saudi Arabia to stage its year-end soiree. The Big Three come swaddled with question marks, not limping into the fourth major but not thundering, either. And Coco Gauff is back to being the toast of the WTA. She has two new coaches since Wimbledon. She has two new titles since Wimbledon. And—swollen with confidence, comfortable on the big stage—she arrives as a contender to win her first major.
