There are moments in a young athlete’s career when the noise outside grows louder than the voice within. For America’s Coco Gauff, 2025 brought one such moment – not after a loss, not after an injury, but after a statistic she never expected to see plastered across tennis circles. While critics dissected every toss, every motion, every pressure point, one fiercely protective voice rose above the noise – Corey Gauff, her father.

As the year closed, a single number began circulating through the tennis world: 432. A statistic big enough to create headlines, bold enough to spark debate, and surprising enough to overshadow the rest of Gauff’s accomplishments – where the world number 3 won two titles and finished the season with a win-loss record of 48-16. Gauff had recorded 432 double faults – the most by any women’s player in 2025.

Some called it alarming; others called it proof of a broken serve. But Corey Gauff? He saw something entirely different. Recently, an IG page named TurnOn Tennis shared a post highlighting the big gap between the ATP (Denis Shapovalov has committed the most double faults on the men’s tour – 302) and WTA when it comes to double-fault numbers this season. Seeing this post, Coco Gauff’s father defended her through a bold statement in the comments section.

“Relax, it’s a stat and a fact and an area to improve, she will improve, she always does, the work doesn’t lie … will be hard to find someone working harder than her on her game …. 2026 she coming !!!!”

Those words didn’t just defend Gauff – they reminded the world of something it too often forgets: every chapter of greatness includes a messy page.

In order to address her serving woes, Gauff hired serving expert Gavin MacMillan as her new coach on the eve of the US Open. Although she began to show some improvements in her matches during her title triumph run in Wuhan, things yet again resurfaced in Riyadh at the WTA Finals.

In the three matches that she played at the WTA Finals this year, she committed around 26 double faults. Now, as the 2026 season approaches, it’ll be interesting to see how quickly she finds a solution to this long-lasting problem in her game. Meanwhile, tennis pundits had their own plethora of advice for Gauff with respect to her ‘double trouble.’

Coco Gauff’s coach finally opens up about her serving woes

In 2025, she shattered quite a few records, including being the youngest woman to finish in the Top 3 for the third consecutive year, but time and again her serving woes have overshadowed those successes. Plenty of suggestions have already been thrown around as to how she can address this issue.

Some wondered if returning to doubles in 2026 would give her the right opportunity to work on her serve in a competitive environment, under less scrutiny than in singles competition, while others, like Tim Henman, tried to figure out what could’ve been the real cause of this problem.

“She is having to concentrate so hard on her serve that it does reflect into other parts of her game.” Jimmy Connors suggested that she should try to make some changes during the off-season. But Gauff won’t be getting much time as she is set to represent her nation at the 2026 United Cup, which starts on January 2.

Serena Williams’ ex-coach, Rick Macci, has time and again highlighted how her serve can be fixed biomechanically, while Rennae Stubbs has often spoken about Coco Gauff’s wrong grip and that her elbow becomes positioned low and close to her body. Bad technique breaks down under pressure, as they say… What makes these legends’ words powerful isn’t just their expertise – it’s their unanimity.

Each sees Coco Gauff’s serving slump not as a warning sign but as a natural, temporary stage in an elite player’s evolution. But what does Gavin MacMillan have to say about Gauff’s hidden struggle beyond her double-fault fix? 

“The first goal is obviously, in my mind, to get an effective kick serve that she 100% trusts. And once we have that in place, we can start establishing, you know, hitting more effective first serves that not only have velocity but spin. It’s not just one thing to hit it hard. If you hit it hard and it bounces flat, it’s into everybody’s wheelhouse.”

A shaky serve doesn’t indicate the end of greatness. More often than not, it’s the beginning of the next level. Do you think Coco Gauff can rectify her long-lasting issues and come up with a better serving stat in 2026?