Coco Gauff not yet the finished product claims former star
Three-time Grand Slam finalist Mary Joe Fernandez feels that Coco Gauff still has some way to go before she can win a Grand Slam.
Gauff played her first Grand Slam championship match in 2022, going down to Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros.
Fernandez believes she still has some develping to do before she can take that final step and win a Grand Slam.
Gauff was a titlist early this season in Auckland, but her run at the Australian Open was ended in the fourth round when she slumped to a straight sets loss to Jelena Ostapenko.
Fernandez said that while Gauff’s talent is still raw, she has tremendous potential.
“With Coco, I also think she’s a work in progress. She’s 18, there’s a lot still to work on in her game,” Mary Joe Fernandez said on the ‘Holding Court with Patrick McEnroe’ podcast.
The former world No 4 believes that Gauff is making incredible progress as a player, making her an exciting prospect.
“But I also think that she’s going in the right direction,” Fernandez opined. “The win she had in Auckland was some of the best tennis I’ve seen from her. She’s working really hard on the forehand, she’s working really hard on the serve.”
Fernandez noted that Gauff has improved her serve; a sign that she is working hard on her game.
“I felt that the serve in Australia was way better, very few double faults…I felt like that’s something she’s corrected and she’s getting the margins, getting the spin,” She added.
Gauff suffered a quarter-final exit as she made her return to the WTA Tour in Doha but teamed up with Jessica Pegula to defend the doubles crown.
As for the player herself, she says that learning how to cope with pressure has been vital for her as she adjusts to being on the WTA Tour full-time as a teen prodigy.
“Everything is under a lot of pressure, so pressure is something I’ve been dealing with all my life,” Gauff said in Doha
“It’s something I’m maybe not used to, because you never get used to it, but I have to learn to handle it better every day.
The more you experiment at first, the better you can fight those feelings.”
Gauff said that she couldn’t possibly know what it would feel like for her to win a Grand Slam.
“It’s a question for which I won’t have an answer until the time comes, until I’ve taken that step,” she added.
“I know I have to adjust some tactical aspects, but you don’t know how you’ll feel about going to win a Grand Slam final, it’s impossible until you do.
“We’ll see if I can do it, that day I’ll answer the question better.”
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