Coco Gauff admits ‘it wasn’t the best’ as old problems resurface
It was out with the old and in with the new for Coco Gauff at the 2025 US Open as she started the tournament with a new coach, but she has yet to shake off her old problems.
Barely a year after she started working with Matt Daly, Gauff surprised the tennis world by parting ways with him ahead of the season-ending Grand Slam, although few could argue with her decision to bring in a biomechanical coach.
Gavin MacMillan joined the setup with one big task: fixing the Gauff serving woes.
Before the US Open, Gauff had served a staggering 320 double faults in 47 matches for an average of 6.8 per match.
The reigning French Open champion was above her average during her first-round match against Ajla Tomljanovic as she served 10 double faults, including on match point, before eventually winning 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5 in nearly two hours.
The American also made 59 unforced errors to go with 29 winners and she admitted: “Yeah, it was a tough match. I had chances for it to be straight sets. Ajla was tough. It wasn’t the best, but I’m happy to get through to the next round.”
The 21-year-old added: “I had so many chances and [I knew] eventually it was going to come. I had chances to close out in two, I had chances to go up a double break so many times, so yeah I was just like ‘eventually one of these are going to go my way and it ended up happening.”
Asked about the coaching change, she said: “It has honestly been really tough, kinda mentally exhausting, but I am trying. It wasn’t the best today, but at 30 all it came of all came in.
“But it’s an improvement from last week in Cincy.”
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As the ESPN commentators said: “Far from perfect…but progress.”
There is no doubt that the partnership with MacMillan needs time as he is hoping to change her service motion and there were already some obvious changes during the match against 2022 US Open quarter-finalist Tomljanovic, who was always going to be a tricky opponent.
There was a noticeable drop in the speed of Gauff’s serves early during the match before she started to pick it up during the second set as well as the third set.
Before the tournament, the American admitted “I needed to make a change, technical change to it, and I don’t want to waste time continuing doing the wrong things”.
The process to change is underway, and for no,w she has to take the positives with the negatives.
Up next is Donna Vekic, who also needed three sets to overcome Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, and Gauff and MacMillan will hope for further improvements.
