Italian Open: Coco Gauff’s Worst Nightmare Relentlessly Haunts Her as She Lets Doubles Glory Slip Past Her in a Jiffy

Coco Gauff‘s double fault scare continues to persist. Just hours after the 20-year-old had to concede defeat to Iga Swiatek for the singles title in Rome, she faced another setback, this time in doubles. The tennis star recently partnered up with Erin Routliffe after her usual partner Jessica Pegula pulled out of the tournament due to injuries. Reaching the finals in their first partnership was no easy feat but the Gauff Routliffe duo’s intense final ended in brutal defeat.

It was a win for the home country. The Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini duo kept Gauff and her New Zealand partner suppressed right from the start as they managed to win the first set easily. Although the losing side managed to set sides even by winning the second set, the unseeded Italian duo took 1 hour and 28 minutes to finally claim victory at the Foro Italico.

Gauff and Routliffe’s first-time match-up was more successful than anyone could have hoped for. But the nail-biter of a match on a packed center court needed alertness from both parties, and as soon as the young American slipped, the victory was snatched. Not only did Gauff make a double fault at the opponent duo’s first match point, but her serve faulted yet again in the first set.

She found herself down 15-40, then erred on a forehand, and it was ultimately her serve that gave the victory to Errani and Paolini. While the young WTA star has stated that she’s making some technical changes, Gauff’s aim is to better her game in the long run. Even so, she can’t afford to just cut her losses and move on.

As soon as Gauff failed to get the ball into her opponent’s side of the court, they jumped in excitement, celebrating their massive win for the Italian Open title. The defeat not only ended Gauff’s dreams of another title on red dirt but also made her go through a shocking reality.

According to the latest recorded statistics, the 20-year-old invited attention to her side as she committed more than 40 double faults throughout the tournament. While Gauff herself acknowledged the fact that she is working on the issue with new techniques along with her coach Brad Gilbert, it has been acknowledged that it would take more time to be fixed.

The fans didn’t seem to be satisfied with her defeat at all. Marking the moment as “quite embarrassing”, a fan wrote, “the consistency at which she keeps making those huge number of faults in each game.” Another fan, mentioning the fact that the audience already saw it coming, commented, “Was extremely predictable.”

Now that every player on tour is looking forward to the clay-court major, can Gauff get her issues sorted?

Coco Gauff focuses on getting more serves in

This wasn’t the only match where Coco Gauff had to struggle because of her irrelevant serves. During her run for the title in Rome, there were several moments in which she faced setbacks because of the persisting issue. On being asked about her thoughts on the concerning situation, Gauff assured everyone by stating that she was “working on it”. Digging deeper into her situation, she said, “I think for me the focus will be getting more first serves in.”  

Gauff also took a moment to delve into the technicalities of her serve stats by adding, “I think my first-serve percentage was low, but my win percentage was in the high 70s or something like that. I think once I can get that down…”

These statements reveal that she’s currently focused on improving her serve. It is evident that the process would demand some time, but Coco Gauff needs to find a fix before it’s too late!