With the feat, she also became the first Latin American champion in the women's singles discipline and is the only unseeded female player to win the gold medal since the reintroduction of tennis in 1988.

In 2008, she started the season with a surprise run to the final of the Costa Rica Bowl (Grade 3) as a qualifier, losing in straight sets to Eugenie Bouchard.

She continued playing consistently, highlights of the latter months of the year included a semifinal appearance at a Grade-B1 tournament in Tulsa, losing to Bouchard in three sets.

Puig started the year reaching the final of the 32nd International Casablanca Junior Cup (Grade A), falling easily to Sachie Ishizu of Japan.

[6] At the Youth Olympics in Singapore, she was the second seed in the singles event but lost in the first round to Zheng Saisai of China, in straight sets.

[9][10] On February 20, Puig won the singles title in Surprise, Arizona defeating Lenka Wienerová, in straight sets.

[11] She received a wildcard into the qualifying of the Indian Wells Open and defeated Anne Keothavong in the first round but was then knocked out by Sorana Cîrstea, in three sets.

On 16 January, she entered the Australian Open qualifying draw ranked 209, and lost in the second round to Kirsten Flipkens.

She received a wildcard to play in the Indian Wells Open qualifying draw, but, in the second round, lost to world No.

At the WTA indoor event in Paris, Puig lost in the final round of qualifying to Stefanie Vögele.

In this same year, she also won the gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico representing Puerto Rico.

As a qualifier, she went on to defeat Magdaléna Rybáriková, Anna Karolína Schmiedlová, Samantha Stosur, and Belinda Bencic before losing in her second WTA Tour final to Svetlana Kuznetsova.

At the Australian Open, she reached the third round, defeating Magda Linette and Kristýna Plíšková before losing to the fourth seed Agnieszka Radwańska.

At the Rio Summer Olympics, Puig won the women's singles gold medal by defeating Polona Hercog, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Garbiñe Muguruza, Laura Siegemund, Petra Kvitová, and, finally, Angelique Kerber.

She lost in the first round to Zheng Saisai, and also in doubles with Mariana Duque-Mariño to Nicole Gibbs and Nao Hibino, and concluded the season with a career best year-end ranking of No.

However, she did end the season on a high note by reaching her fourth career WTA-level final at the Luxembourg Open.

Puig started the season at the Auckland Open where she lost in the first round to second seed and eventual champion, Julia Görges.

[30] Puig retired from her qualifying match in Rome at the Italian Open to Donna Vekić due to a right hip strain.

[32] Puig returned to action in July at the Wimbledon Championships where she lost in the first round to 13th seed and eventual semifinalist, Julia Görges.

However, due to Naomi Osaka withdrawing from the tournament,[34] she entered the main draw as a lucky loser but lost in the first round to Anett Kontaveit.

[36] Playing for Puerto Rico in the Fed Cup tie against Colombia, Puig won her match over María Herazo González.

[42] Puig returned to the tour in August at the Cincinnati Open and lost in the first round of qualifying to American wildcard Katie Volynets.

[44] Competing at the French Open, Puig lost her first-round match to 2012 finalist and qualifier, Sara Errani.

[46] Puig has had multiple coaches in her career, including Alain De Vos (2008–2014), Ricardo Sánchez (2014–2015), Juan Todero (2015–2018), Kamau Murray and Othmane Garma (2019),[47][48] Philippe DeHaes,[49] and Diego Veronelli.

She joined her then-fiancé, former Georgia Tech tennis player and avid runner Nathan Rakitt, for a run and enjoyed it, so much that they decided to sign up for the 2022 New York City Marathon.

In between her work with ESPN and the Tennis Channel doing live commentary in Spanish, Puig trains with COROS and coach Derek Dalzell to improve her endurance, pace, nutrition, and recovery.