Despite putting up some remarkable performances in the last few years, Coco Gauff’s serving woes have now begun to become the biggest hurdles in her road to title triumphs. If we take a look back, her 19 double faults against Emma Navarro in the R16 of the 2024 US Open were one of the key reasons behind her failure to defend the title last year. Following that, we saw her increase that number to 21 at the 2024 Wuhan Open in her match against Aryna Sabalenka, and then she followed the same trend against Moyuka Uchijima in this year’s Indian Wells. In this season, the American has already committed around 250 double faults, and her recent stats at the Canadian Open have yet again put her ‘double trouble’ as a hot topic of discussion in the tennis world.
At the Canadian Open, she faced defeat at the hands of the 18-year-old Canadian, Victoria Mboko. The teenager had received a wildcard entry in this tournament; she needed just 62 minutes to beat the world number 2 by 6-1,6-4 in the R16. In that match, Coco Gauff committed five double faults, and with this, her numbers went on to 42 doubles in her three matches here at the Canadian Open. Reacting to those worrisome figures, Serena Williams’ ex-coach Rennae Stubbs was heard saying, “I don’t understand why now she has literally two coaches. Nothing has changed on her serve…like the ball toss is so far ahead of her on the second serve.”
Following that, in that same episode of The Rennae Stubbs Podcast, the Aussie legend advised her to follow in the footsteps of her tennis idol, Serena Williams. “Yeah, I mean, my suggestion to her would be, after the US Open, no Asia. Just shut it down like Serene would do. She didn’t play Asia. She didn’t even play the WTA Finals. Like, because you also have to look at the surface, right? Now, if the end of the year was on clay, go for it, play. But it’s on fast, hard courts in China and in Asia or in Europe, indoors, which none of them are going to be great for her, for her serve. So I think you either decide that you’re going to break it down, like big time and change it and change everything about it, the grip, the ball toss, everything,” said Stubbs. Bad technique breaks down under pressure? Yes, that’s what she believes at the moment!
While sharing her thoughts on this constant issue after her third-round match, Coco Gauff admitted that she’s “disappointed” with her serving. But having said that, she claimed that she didn’t play at the Citi Open this year in order to work more on these issues. Gauff revealed that she had done well during the practice sessions. So, for now, her goal is to transfer those learnings to her matches. Hearing this statement from Gauff, Rennae Stubbs went on to add, no matter what she does in practice sessions, her “technique is not good.” She pointed out that her elbow is down, her grip is wrong, and even the ball toss is in the wrong position.
Image Credits: WTA/Instagram
There have been a few stats going around on social media, which highlight Coco Gauff as one of the players who has committed the most number of double faults in a single WTA match. Surely, this isn’t one of those stats where she’d like to see her name in, and hence, she has already set her targets for the upcoming matches. Coco Gauff knows that she probably won’t ever be double fault free, but if she somehow can bring that number to 2% or 3%, she feels this would make a big difference and help her win the matches more easily.
However, despite this worrying factor in her game, there is one thing that has impressed tennis legend Lindsay Davenport.
Former world number one points out one key aspect which she likes most about Coco Gauff’s game
Coco Gauff’s incredible habit of stealing victories from the jaws of defeat has become the talk of the town in recent times. So, other than her serving woes, several tennis experts have often praised Gauff for ‘winning ugly’. During a conversation with Tennis Channel, Lindsay Davenport praised her compatriot’s ability to pull through and still win big matches.
She spoke about how Gauff didn’t look too confident during her match against Danielle Collins. “Her toss was all over the place. But she still wins. It’s unbelievable her ability to figure out ways to win when she is playing, honestly, C-level tennis out there,” said Davenport. According to her, Coco Gauff did a fantastic job in managing her emotions in that epic all-American clash.
But the Canadian Open is a past thing now, and Coco Gauff is now all set to enter the Cincinnati Open. She won the title here in 2023, but last year faced a defeat at the hands of Yulia Putintseva in her very first match. Can she make a stronger comeback this season? Just a few days ago, while sharing her thoughts on Gauff on the Tennis Channel Live Podcast, Lindsay Davenport said, “It’s not a perfect situation for her to be unhooked. I mean, the pressure’s off. She’s won her second major, but when you’ve won majors and your goal is to be number one in the world and to be the best, this is not okay.“
She further added, “I mean, Gauff could tell herself, ‘Oh, well, don’t worry I just won Roland Garros’… That’s not how a champion’s mind works.” According to Davenport, Coco Gauff will be keen to start her practice session in Cincinnati and look forward to building some momentum from that tournament before heading to NY for the US Open. How far do you think Gauff can go at the 2025 Cincinnati Open?
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