‘Tough to Push Yourself to Do the Uncomfortable’- Coco Gauff Makes No Qualms About Widely-Known Weakness to Her Game

Coco Gauff is dead set on to “be the player” that she wants to be. Despite all the discomfort, Gauff is putting all her effort into becoming a better version of herself on the court. Having an average of 10 double faults in all the matches she has played she is now determinedly working on the “shot that is tough to change” before the 2024 French Open. However, she has now got a bit of confidence looking at her numbers from her previous match against Iga Swiatek in the SF of the 2024 Italian Open.

In her previous match in Rome, Gauff hit three aces and committed just four double faults. Her first-serve win percentage was 63%. On the second serve, it was around 42% against the world number one. Coco Gauff won six of her service games against Swiatek. Serves are a crucial part of the game and making a change in techniques can be difficult at times. Speaking on her technical changes in a press conference in Paris, Gauff said, “I feel like, overall, if I want to be the player that I want to become. I have to be uncomfortable and make changes to my game. Not just to my serve, but other things, as well.” 

She highlighted the fact that she has been trying to improve it with every tournament from the start of the clay to Rome. And, she’s now quite confident looking at the numbers from her last match in Rome. The 20-year-old tennis star further added, “I feel like it’s getting better but it’s obviously a shot that is tough to change because when you’re tight you revert back to what you know works. Sometimes it’s tough to push yourself to do the uncomfortable things which you know in the long term are better for you.“

If we look at her overall numbers from this season, Coco Gauff has hit 115 aces and committed 213 double faults so far. That’s quite a big number considering her position in the WTA singles ranking. Bringing the accuracy in her serve will be a vital factor in deciding whether she can climb up the ladder this season or stay at the same posting in the rankings table. Gauff has won 69.8% of her service games this season. She has won 70.3% of her first serve and 42% of her second serve.

Serena Williams’ former coach, Renna Stubbs had once openly stated, “She [Coco] has bad technique on her serve. Particularly the second serve, and the forehand to a degree.” Even Gauff knows her areas of improvement quite well. Her coach, Brad Gilbert had once brought in his former student, Andy Roddick to take a look at her serve. Roddick’s role was basically to help Coco Gauff simplify her motion during her serve. Every change needs time to be fully implemented on a regular basis in the matches.

“Not everybody is like Rafa“ – Coco Gauff’s coach on how difficult it’s to change the techniques

During the Italian Open, Coco Gauff said that she feels like the other parts of her game are very much improving in the right direction. She feels like it’s her service that is causing all the damage at the moment. And she strongly believes if she can manage that a bit she will have a really good chance at the Roland Garros this year. Even Andy Roddick was quite optimistic about her serving abilities when he met her last time. Roddick said, “I think Coco will be a dominant server.“

But her coach Brad Gilbert says that she will need some time to get adjusted to these changes because “Not everybody is like Rafa that can make changes all the time. Andre was another one that liked to tinker all the time, but not all players are like that.” Share what are your thoughts on Coco Gauff’s biggest weakness.