Welcome back to Fast Friends with Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie!
In today's episode, our hosts kick things off by chatting through last weekend's NWSL quarterfinals, with the top four teams proving their dominance in four heated battles. O'Hara then shouts out the two center backs who notched their first goals of the year this postseason: Washington's Tara McKeown and Gotham's Tierna Davidson.
Later turning to the NWSL semifinals, Leslie zeroes in on this weekend's bout between No. 1 Orlando and No. 4 Kansas City — a game that pits leading goalscorers Temwa Chawinga and Barbra Banda against one another. "Is the matchup that we've been waiting for?" she asks.
O'Hara agrees with her co-host. While she dubs the semifinal between No. 2 Washington and No. 3 Gotham more of a "chess match," O'Hara predicts the Current and Pride's clash to be "end line to end line soccer."
"Orlando was able to stay top of the table [while] Kansas City is fourth, so in reality you would think Orlando should walk into this game feeling very confident and know what you need to do to be successful," says O'Hara. "But it's playoffs, so anything can happen."
"I'm just gonna be sat on the couch, locked in," she adds. "Get the popcorn out, get ready."
Fast Friends discusses NWSL awards
Before moving on from the pitch, Leslie and O'Hara discuss the NWSL's end-of-season awards frontrunners. The hosts gamble that Chawinga will take MVP honors while Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune will walk away as the 2024 Rookie of the Year — despite only playing 17 matches before a post-Olympics knee injury limited her to the sidelines.
Then, the legendary athletes turn to the tennis courts to celebrate Coco Gauff's recent WTA Finals win before chatting through the top teams and players headlining NCAA basketball's early season action.
And last but not least, O'Hara and Leslie reveal a few of the special guests joining them onstage at their upcoming NWSL Championship Weekend Live Show.
About Fast Friends with Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie
Coming off the success of JWS's Olympic commentary show The Gold Standard, Fast Friends features two legendary athletes serving up insider insights and unique takes on the biggest stories in women's sports every week.
Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.
World No. 3 tennis star Coco Gauff won the 2024 WTA Finals on Saturday, becoming the youngest US player to take the tournament since Serena Williams in 2001.
Gauff's championship came by way of a grueling three-hour 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) final match win over reigning Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen.
The 20-year-old's road to the $4.8 million purse — the largest in women's tennis history — included just her second-ever win over No. 2 Iga Świątek in the group round and a semifinal victory over No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Friday.
A winning end to a rollercoaster season
When asked about her 2024 season, Gauff told reporters, "There’s been a lot of ups and downs. At moments, it felt great. At other moments, it felt awful. Basically, a typical year on tour."
Her low point was a disappointing attempt to defend her 2023 US Open title. Gauff stumbled out of the US Grand Slam in the fourth round this fall.
That performance led Gauff to an apparently productive coaching change. She left coach Brad Gilbert, adding Matt Daly to her team to work with Jean-Christophe “JC” Faurel.
Since then, Gauff has gone 13-2, ultimately adding the China Open and WTA Finals titles to her June French Open doubles trophy.
After silencing doubters with Saturday's victory, Gauff took to social media, writing "lol safe to say I beat the bad season allegations."
A double dose of WTA Finals history
Just before Gauff took the court, Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe were crowned the season's doubles champions.
Dabrowski and Routliffe avenged their Wimbledon final loss by defeating US player Taylor Townsend and her Czech partner Kateřina Siniaková 7-5, 6-3 on Saturday. They are now the first athletes from Canada and New Zealand to win the WTA Finals doubles title.
For only the second time in 13 career tries, 20-year-old US tennis star Coco Gauff defeated former World No. 1 Iga Świątek in straight sets at the 2024 WTA Finals on Tuesday, guaranteeing Gauff a spot in Saturday's semifinals.
No. 3 Gauff clinched the 6-3, 6-4 result in one hour and 48 minutes on Riyadh’s Center Court to join Aryna Sabalenka as the first two players to book tickets to the semifinals.
"I knew going into the match, despite our head-to-head [history], I had a lot of confidence and I felt like I was playing great tennis," Gauff said after the match.
The first and only other time Gauff defeated Świątek was at the 2023 Cincinnati Open, when the pair battled to a 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4 finish. Gauff went on to win that tournament, just weeks before earning her first Grand Slam championship by winning the 2023 US Open.
Gauff's Tuesday win also guarantees that Sabalenka will finish the calendar year as World No. 1, bolstered by her 2024 US Open win and her strong performances this week.
Semifinals take shape
While Sabalenka and No. 7 Qinwen Zheng both advanced from the Purple Group on Wednesday, ending No. 4 Jasmine Paolini's and No. 5 Elena Rybakina's WTA Finals runs, Gauff and Świątek each have one more group match on the tournament's docket.
Gauff will aim to win the Orange Group outright by defeating No. 8 Barbora Krejčíková on Thursday. As for Krejčíková, she'll be competing for a shot at advancing over Świątek, who will look to defeat alternate Daria Kasatkina to claim the final semifinals spot.
Pegula withdraws with injury
Kasatkina is stepping in at the eleventh hour after Gauff's compatriot, No. 6 Jessica Pegula, withdrew from the competition with a left knee injury on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old Pegula, who was already eliminated from advancing after falling 6-3, 6-3 to Krejčíková on Tuesday, has nursed the injury since before the WTA Finals began.
"What started as a really small issue flared over the last two matches and I just can’t continue tomorrow," Pegula tweeted. "I’m sorry to the fans and tournament. I really had a great week of prep and had high hopes here but it just wasn’t meant to be."
How to watch Coco Gauff at Thursday's WTA Finals
Świątek and Kasatkina will kick off the final group-stage day at the 2024 WTA Finals at 7:30 AM ET, with Gauff taking on Krejčíková at 10 AM ET. Both matches will air live on the Tennis Channel.
The year's final major tennis tournament begins on Saturday when the sport's highest-ranked athletes descend on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to compete in the 2024 WTA Finals.
Featuring the eight best singles players and eight best doubles teams, Slam winners and Olympic medalists alike will compete for the Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova trophies before the winter break.
Also up for grabs is a piece of the record $15.25 million prize pool, larger than any Grand Slam purse and a nearly 70% increase over the 2023 pot. Should the champions go undefeated through the tournament, the singles winner will bank $5.155 million, while the top doubles duo will take home $1.125 million.
Eight days of elite tennis action
In both the WTA Finals singles and doubles categories, competitors are split into two groups of four.
Each singles player or doubles pair will play all others in their group for a total of three matches across the first six days. The top two in each group will then compete in the November 8th semifinals, with both finals set for November 9th.
In the singles contest, the Purple Group includes No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, No. 5 Elena Rybakina, and No. 7 Qinwen Zheng, while the Orange Group lists No. 2 Iga Świątek, No. 3 Coco Gauff, No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 8 Barbora Krejčíková.
In both competitions, 25% of the top eight athletes represent the USA. Along with Gauff and Pegula on the singles court, the doubles tournament includes No. 5 US duo Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk as well as Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Taylor Townsend in the Nos. 6 and 8 pairs, respectively.
Will Sabalenka play Świątek at the WTA Finals?
A showdown between Sabalenka and 2023 WTA Finals champion Świątek could be the event's blockbuster match. The top-ranked players have yet to square off in a major tournament in 2024 — a year rife with highs and lows for both athletes.
Sabalenka started the WTA season by winning her second Australian Open, then later struggled through a shoulder injury that forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon. She capped the Grand Slam season in style, though, winning her first US Open in September.
As for five-time Grand Slam victor Świątek, 2024 brought the Polish phenom her fourth French Open title. A rockier second half to the season — including a third round and quarterfinal ousting from Wimbledon and the US Open, and a fall from the No. 1 ranking for the first time since November 2023 — motivated Świątek to seek a new coach.
How to watch the 2024 WTA Finals tennis tournament
The 2024 WTA Finals kicks off on Saturday, when US Open winner Sabalenka plays 2024 Olympic gold medalist Zheng at 11 AM ET.
Later, 2023 US Open champ Gauff will take on 2024 US Open runner-up Pegula at 8:45 AM ET on Sunday.
All 2024 WTA Finals matches will be broadcast live on the Tennis Channel.