‘Coco Gauff’s serve is going to be a problem forever’, says former world No 1
Former doubles world No 1 Rennae Stubbs has claimed Coco Gauff’s serve is going to be “a problem for her forever” as she labelled one aspect of the American’s issue “unheard of.”
Gauff had to battle troubles with her serve during her campaigns in Indian Wells and Miami last month.
In her most recent match, Gauff served 12 double faults in her 4-6, 4-6 loss to Magda Linette in the fourth round in Miami.
In Indian Wells, Gauff hit 21 double faults in her opening match against Moyuka Uchijima and also struck six in her final service game in her third round victory over Maria Sakkari.
The 21-year-old American leads the WTA Tour for double faults in 2025 with 121 across her 18 matches. Gauff has also won just 38.9% of points behind her second serve this year.
Petkovic, a former world No 9, raised the topic in an episode of the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast.
“Coco Gauff, a disappointing month for her in Indian Wells, in Miami. Did you see her service motion live? I just saw it on video,” said the German.
“She served, for those who haven’t maybe followed, she served 12 double faults in her straight sets loss against Magda [Linette].”
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Stubbs, who won six Grand Slam titles in doubles and coached Serena Williams, broke down the technical issues she sees with Gauff’s service motion.
“I just… her grip is wrong. I think her elbow gets super low and sort of so close to her body. The left arm jumps down,” asserted the Australian.
“There’s so many little technical things that are going to be a problem for her going forward forever. Because it doesn’t just go away. You know, Billie Jean King always said bad technique breaks down under pressure.
“And that is unfortunately going to be a problem for her forever, unless she addresses that again, because you cannot be serving 11, 12, 13, 14 double faults a match. I mean, that’s just unheard of.”
Gauff will begin her clay-court season at this week’s WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart, where she will face Tatjana Maria or Ella Seidel in her opening match. The 2023 US Open champion is currently ranked fourth in the world.
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