Coco Gauff is putting in the work to fix the two most crucial shots in tennis—her serve and forehand. And her new coach, Matt Daly, is playing a big role in that transformation. The former University of Notre Dame player joined her team just weeks after she racked up 19 double faults in a three-set loss to Emma Navarro at the U.S. Open. Since then, the improvements have been evident. She started the season strong with a United Cup victory and a quarterfinal finish at the Australian Open. But the Middle Eastern swing didn’t go her way, with back-to-back second-round exits. Now, she’s in Indian Wells, fighting through matches but still struggling with her serve. And an ex-American WTA pro has some advice.

Gauff, the third seed at Indian Wells, survived a close call in her opening match against World No. 52 Moyuka Uchijima. The 21-year-old American edged out a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) victory, but the stats told a different story.

She landed 65% of her first serves in but hit a staggering 21 double faults. That, along with 74 unforced errors, made the match far more difficult than it needed to be. Even she wasn’t happy, grading her performance a ‘D.’ But in her next match, things started looking up.

Against Maria Sakkari, who is one of the strongest Indian Wells players of recent years per WTA Tennis, she cut her double faults down to nine—a big step in the right direction. “Resilience I guess,” Gauff said when asked what she will take away from Monday’s win. “Overall, it was much better than the previous match. Just trying to keep getting better as the rounds go on. I lost to Maria last year in the semifinal, so it felt good to get a little revenge today, even though I love her.” Was it just resilience?

Former World No. 9 Coco Vandeweghe weighed in on Gauff’s game during the ‘Tennis Channel Live Podcast.’ The former American tennis player said, “Well, I think it started out in the first set, the closest set that we had in that match where she was serving in the 70 percent. I think that’s so important for Coco Gauff to just have that confidence for herself when she is serving, get lots of first serves in and be aggressive with it.” 

“You can put the kick in, you can use the topspin, but it’s the aggressiveness of the racket head speed and the legs that really builds confidence for Coco in her serving games. And I think that’s still going to be a question mark. Obviously, we’re still in the early stages for her of the season. And here we’ve seen her go out to the practice court many times after matches to work on things.”

One Coco to another, that advice rings true as resilience and confidence are deeply intertwined and mutually reinforcing qualities. Coco Gauff has been pushing herself hard, fully aware that even losses have something to offer.

Coco Gauff finds the silver lining in losing

The World No. 3 didn’t have the best time in Qatar and Dubai, exiting in the second round of both tournaments. Marta Kostyuk sent her packing in Doha, and McCartney Kessler did the same in Dubai. Losing back-to-back is never easy, but Coco Gauff is already showing signs of a comeback. She finally snapped the losing streak at Indian Wells and is working her way back to form. So, how does she handle losses?

“Yeah. I mean, I guess it depends how you lose. If you feel like you have had a focus on the process of what you are working on, for me, if I feel like I did the things that we were working on in practice and the opponent was just better, then it’s, like, okay that was a step forward. But, yeah, I mean, obviously never feels great losing, so I guess it’s harder for me to find the positives in the loss. I have been trying to do more of that lately,” the 21-year-old tennis star explained.

With her latest win, Gauff has now reached the Round of 16 at Indian Wells for the third straight year. She’s the first American to do so since Venus Williams (2017-2019) and the youngest since 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams(1999-2001). And what good company—Serena Williams was the last American to win Indian Wells, back in 2001.

But before she can think about lifting the trophy, she has to get past Belinda Bencic. She’s beaten the Swiss star twice before, including in this year’s Australian Open fourth-round. Can Coco Gauff take another step forward and keep her title hopes alive?