Andy Roddick delivers damning Coco Gauff verdict after Rybakina defeat
Andy Roddick has delivered a blunt verdict on Coco Gauff’s defeat to Elena Rybakina in the US Open semi-finals, stating that ‘it’s going to be a struggle’ for the American if she cannot improve her forehand.
Gauff stormed to a 6-3 first-set victory against Rybakina, but lost 6-4 in both the second and third sets, marking her second defeat to the Kazakh in her last three tournaments.
Rybakina, who clinched the world No 1 spot earlier in the week, will next face top seed Aryna Sabalenka for the title.
Whilst a semi-final appearance would be an impressive result for most players, Gauff will undoubtedly be disappointed that she could not sustain her high level throughout the match.
In August, she won the Canadian Open and entered her semi-final against Rybakina as the betting favourite.
However, 2003 US Open champion Roddick has now weighed in with his analysis, identifying Gauff’s forehand as a key weakness and warning that she will ‘struggle’ against opponents who can consistently generate pace to that side.
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“The first set I was saying is this the best Coco has ever played in a tournament. She was in full flight but the forehand deserted her,” he stated during the latest episode of the Served with Andy Roddick podcast.
“Credit to Rybakina, she is not known for dropping sets and then coming back. She is the opposite of Coco when she loses a set, comes back.
“ She has done that on back to back days with the number one ranking at stake and with the US Open title at stake.
“Coco’s forehand let her down. That is it. It’s going to be a struggle when people can go big and create pace to that side.
“When they don’t, she has enough time and she can manipulate spins and hits slices and do all that. But let’s also think about where she was a year ago.
“We saw her almost have the closest she will get to a breakdown, where her hands were shaking on the switchover because she could not serve.
“Let’s judge it on the match and let’s also judge it on year over year progress.”
Gauff is next scheduled to play at the China Open, which begins on September 28.
However, the American admitted that her mindset for the rest of the season will be focused on making improvements ahead of the 2027 season, rather than concentrating on her tournament performances.
“I think every US Open, and no disrespect to other tournaments, but [after] every US Open is kind of where my mind is just thinking to focus on the improvement for next year.
“I will play in China and hopefully qualify for WTA Finals, but every time I play those events it has been for the purpose of trying to try things for next season or trying to figure out what I need to work on [in] the off-season.
“Sometimes the mindset works, as I’m usually successful at those events, so I think this will just be about going back and seeing what I can improve on and what I need to try and put into my game during the Asian swing.”
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