Coco Gauff Faces US Open Doubts as Martina Navratilova-Led Panel Favors Rivals

All eyes are on Coco Gauff as she steps into the US Open—this time with a fresh coaching strategy and high hopes of bouncing back. She recently parted ways with Matt Daly and turned to biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan, well-known for transforming Aryna Sabalenka’s faltering serve, to help her with similar woes. But despite Gauff’s bold move, Martina Navratilova and her Sky Sports analytical panel still seem to favor her rivals, thus raising real doubts about Gauff’s chances.

According to Navratilova, Iga Swiatek has a better chance of winning the US Open. She stated, “Iga Swiatek in the women’s for me, even though she hasn’t had the best summer. The Wimbledon win and the way she just conducted herself the whole tournament does mean that the old Iga is back.” Of course, Swiatek is playing like she used to back when she was No. 1 in the world. But then again, the old Swiatek wouldn’t have imagined winning Wimbledon, let alone following it up with her maiden title at Cincinnati with straight-set wins. At Wimbledon, Swiatek routed Amanda Anisimova 6–0, 6–0 to claim her first victory. And two weeks later, she claimed her first Cincinnati title, beating Jasmine Paolini 7–5, 6–4 in the final after defeating Elena Rybakina in the semifinals.

Fellow analyst Annabel Croft also had a similar take on Swiatek’s prospects, even though it came with an asterisk by the name of defending champion Aryna Sabalenka. “I think she’s [Swiatek] got her mojo back. It’s between Sabalenka and Swiatek. A Sabalenka-Swiatek final would be good. It’s so difficult to predict where Coco Gauff’s at any one week, but I’d like to see her come back a bit.” And that’s how the worries regarding Coco Gauff started to emanate from the panel. Nevertheless, the majority support lay with Sabalenka.

After losing to Emma Navarro in 2024, Gauff seemed to have identified exactly what cost her the title defence in Flushing Meadows: her serving woes. Yet, they continue to ring alarm bells in the lead-up to this year’s edition as well. Gauff hasn’t made it to a single summit clash since she stunned the world by beating Aryna Sabalenka at Roland Garros. In Berlin, 7 double faults and 25 unforced errors led her to a rather one-sided contest against Wang Xinyu. Her struggles on grass continued at Wimbledon as she became the third woman in the Open Era to lose in round one after winning the French Open. But perhaps what rang the loudest alarm bells was her 23 double faults in her match against Danielle Collins in Montreal—the most in a WTA-level match since 2011.

Gigi Salmon defended this stance, claiming that there is no player in the women’s game in recent times who can perform better than Sabalenka. It’s not a hot take, considering Sabalenka has reached two of the three Grand Slam finals this year, and wasn’t eliminated until the semifinals of Wimbledon. But then again, it would not be wise to count Gauff out so early. 

Thankfully, while Navratilova and her fellow Sky Sports analysts didn’t consider her coaching shuffle as they shared their verdict, ESPN‘s Darren Cahill thinks the partnership with McMillan can yield good results.

“A lot of things add up and this could be a really good relationship,” Cahill stated, “He’s very thorough … I’ve spoken to him many, many times before and the fact that he’s got experience with different athletes from different sports, both male and female, he uses the new technology, he goes to the video a lot, really breaks down the biomechanics.” But at the end of the day, it’s still an unpredictable sport. Coco Gauff still has a chance to claim a win and shock the entire world. Her French Open breakthrough at 21, by defeating Sabalenka herself, shows she can thrive under pressure when firing on all cylinders. Now, to not miss a single moment of her run at the US Open, head to EssentiallySports’ live blog of the Slam.