Coco Gauff’s Costly Error Triggers Blunt Warning From American Legend to Her Inner Circle

Service yips have become a tattoo for the Florida resident, Coco Gauff. She has tried to hide them, cover them, and even erase them, but they have let her down time and again. Just last year, the ghosts came to the forefront when she lost her US Open title to friend Emma Navarro. The wayward deliveries started early. After three in her opening service, she committed 11 in the third set alone, ending with a total of 19. In what was a quite tense and fast-paced match, all she could say was, “I just didn’t take care of my serve, so that was the biggest difference.” The very first thing she then did was part ways with Brad Gilbert and join forces with Matt Daly ahead of her trip to Asia. Although she double faulted again in Wuhan Open, her composure looked better in Riyadh. However, just like the lows didn’t last long, the highs didn’t either.

With her continuous slump, Serena Williams’ childhood mentor, Rick Macci, advised her to take biomechanics coach, something that Aryna Sabalenka had done after her nightmare 2022 run with over 400 double faults promising, “Coco and her second serve can be fixed in less than one hour.” While Coco was open for more opinions, her troubles have followed her still.

Most recently, in six matches in Rome, her double fault total came to nearly 42. Then it was her performance at the Italian Open. During the SF against Qinwen Zheng, she committed 15 double faults. Then in her second WTA 100 defeat since earlier in May where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid, Coco’s numbers looked more concerning. Her first serve percentage was just 53% to Paolini’s 78%. Not to mention the 7:0 double faults. But what took the most scrutiny was her forehand. According to reports, she had 23 unforced errors of 55 total on the forehand. So despite making back-to-back finals appearances, Coco has some room for improvement as Jimmy Connors believes.

During a recent episode of the ‘Advantage Connors’, Jimmy was asked what he thinks about Gauff’s game. Interestingly, while replying to this question, Connors made it clear what Gauff’s inner circle has to do to improve her daunting flaw. He said, “I would think the coaches and those around her would be straightforward enough to say, ‘Listen, this is where you are playing like this and look at what would happen if you wouldn’t do that, which is make so many errors and make your opponent earn it a little bit more, as opposed to giving too many free points away.’“

Previously, during the early phases of the 2024 season, Coco Gauff’s ex-coach brought in one of the finest servers in the sport, Andy Roddick to the team to have a look at the areas of improvement in her serve. Speaking on this topic about the never-ending woes of the 21-year-old American, Jim Courier said, “Many have tried. Andy spent some time with her, trying to help her as well. A lot of it comes down to the ball toss position. I’ve felt, at times, when [she hits] her second serve, the ball toss is a little too far forward and you can’t really go up at it.” And if you ask Roddick himself:

“I think Jim is absolutely right. I’ve watched her step, three feet from her, she’s ripping it, and the net’s not even in play in practice, right? I think it’s just a matter of training that mentality, you kinda have to hit the bottom of the ball a little bit, or at least have the mentality to create speed and margin by kind of rolling over from the bottom.”

With the French Open rolling in within a few days’ time, it’s high time for Coco Gauff to put her full focus on making a few adjustments with her serving woes in order to avoid such near misses. What does she have to say about her constant trouble, though?

“I could have served better” – Coco Gauff analyses her performance in the Italian Open final

Coco Gauff tends to commit double faults at the crucial moments of the matches, and this tendency has now drawn severe scrutiny from tennis experts. Recently, Serena Williams’ ex-coach Rennae Stubbs, who has also been following Gauff’s game closely, came up with some suggestions. 

Top Comment by Adora Avboraye

The finals just terrifies her

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According to her, “I think her elbow gets super low and sort of so close to her body. The left arm jumps down. There are so many little technical things that are going to be a problem for her going forward forever.” As for Gauff herself, after losing to Paolini, this is what she had to say:

“Jasmine played I think great tennis today. I think it was one of her best levels today. I also didn’t play my best level. I think it’s both. It’s not to discredit my opponent. She forced me to play that way. Yeah, maybe I could have served better and put more balls in the court, could play better. I definitely could and can. I think for me I guess, yeah, with the double-faults, it’s something I know I have to improve and do better. If I want to make it to the next level, it’s definitely something I have to improve.”

Despite these errors, Gauff still somehow managed to reach two consecutive finals (Madrid and Rome). Is that a big boost ahead of her mission in Roland Garros? Coco Gauff reached the finals of the French Open in 2022, in 2023, she reached the QF, and in 2024, she reached the SF. Speaking about her chances in this year’s edition, she said, “I think it’s both confidence and motivation to do better. Hopefully, I can get to the final in Roland Garros and maybe the ‘third time is a charm’ thing is a real thing. That’s looking so far ahead.” Gauff looks determined to keep her incredible run intact in Paris as well. Do you think she has a chance of winning the French Open title this year?