Troubleshooting: Aware that her forehand was a weak point, Gauff has labored on altering her footwork to get into higher positions to hit the stroke with extra venom. | Photo credit score: Getty Images
Going huge: Gauff has hit the 126mph mark on her serve, however desires to proceed to extend the typical velocity of her first supply as she adopts a extra aggressive fashion. | Photo credit score: Getty Images
Stung by a first-round exit at Wimbledon this yr, Coco Gauff spent a “a lot of nights crying and trying to figure it all out”.
The American teenage prodigy had been picked out for greatness by a number of tennis luminaries, together with 18-time Major winner Chris Evert. But whereas Gauff’s credentials of being a world-class participant have been by no means doubtful — she has been an everyday characteristic within the WTA high 10 since September 2022 — folks have been starting to speak about her lack of progress in Grand Slam occasions. The criticism peaked after the loss to Sofia Kenin on the grass at SW19.
“I told myself I can either let this crush me or make me rise and I decided to make myself rise from it,” Gauff mentioned. She vowed to channel the frustration she felt into bettering her sport as she continued her quest for a Grand Slam breakthrough. “I have to go back to the drawing board and see where I need to improve,” she mentioned in London.
Renewed vigour
After a interval of introspection and problem-solving, Gauff hit the North American laborious courts forward of the US Open with renewed vigour.
The outcomes present that her course of is working. Since the despair of Wimbledon, the 19-year-old has received 11 of 12 matches. She was victorious in Washington DC, her first 500-level title, and reached the quarters in Montreal earlier than finishing the most important triumph of her younger profession in Cincinnati, a 1000-level occasion the place she beat World No. 1 Iga Swiatek for the primary time.
Gauff turned the youngest winner of the Cincinnati WTA title and the primary teenager to notch up 5 profession titles since Caroline Wozniacki in 2008-09. On this way, the World No. 6 seems to be poised to be an actual risk at Flushing Meadows, the place the ultimate Major of the yr — the US Open — begins on Monday.
So what has Gauff achieved to raise her sport because the begin of the hard-court swing?
She acknowledged after the defeat to Kenin that her forehand, which opponents have been concentrating on efficiently, wanted work.
It was a line of research different specialists had forwarded as the explanation for her struggles, as nicely. Veteran coach Rick Macci, who has labored with the likes of Venus and Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Jennifer Capriati and Andy Roddick, informed OLBG, a sports activities betting group, that Gauff’s weak forehand wanted a technical overhaul whereas her serve may do with “rewiring”.
“For me, she’s the best athlete on the tour, she’s an Olympic sprinter with a racquet in her hand,” Macci mentioned. “Mentally, she has it. Her backhand is cash, and her volley is nice. The serve, I might rewire barely, it’s unfastened, it’s huge, it’s free, however it isn’t fairly nearly as good because it might be.
“The muscle memory on the forehand has been there for so long. If she took a bit of time out and modified that, she would have so much ability… A completely new stroke … would fully change her career. It could go from her weakest shot to her best shot.”
Putting within the work
Gauff has labored with new coach Pere Riba on altering her footwork so she persistently will get into higher positions to strike the forehand and use it as a weapon. “She’s already near the top, but there is a lot of room to get better,” mentioned Riba, a former top-100 participant. An wonderful defender who can keep in rallies, Gauff desires to dictate phrases extra typically in a match — she is seeking to strengthen her first-strike functionality, figuring out how rather more formidable that will make her.
“I should be playing that aggressive style, focusing on my serve plus one,” Gauff mentioned, referring to the primary two pictures of a degree. “There are times I’ve served 126 mph, [but] I’m not going to hit 126 every time. But I definitely want to increase my first-serve speed average. It’s not that I can’t get there; it’s that sometimes I need to trust in it. So it’s committing on the serve every single point.”
These enhancements have been proven off to spectacular impact in Cincinnati, particularly through the semifinal win over Swiatek, the dominant pressure in girls’s tennis. Gauf had by no means taken a set off the Pole in seven earlier conferences, which included a heartbreaking loss within the 2022 Roland Garros ultimate. The teenager needed to win to show the nook psychologically, to really imagine she may beat the easiest.
Gauff served huge and performed sensational defence to safe a hard-fought victory, overcoming a number of moments of doubt through the tight three-setter. “I knew playing her was going to be tough, nothing was going to be given to me,” she informed Tennis Channel. “I took my alternatives once I acquired them and simply fought for each level. I used to be a little bit unfavourable within the second set however I acquired it again and I used to be simply telling myself, ‘You’re a warrior, you are able to do this.’
“I was just saying, ‘I’m Coco Gauff and I can do it.’ I felt from the moment I stepped onto the court that I wasn’t going to lose this match even when the moments got tough. It shows that I can be at that level… and I still think that I’m not even at the peak of my game.”
Growing into her sport
Gauff, who made her professional debut as a 15-year-old, doesn’t anticipate to peak till her mid-20s. “Most tennis players … are peaking around 22 to 26. I started so young, so I wasn’t really strong enough to hit and close the point. In juniors, I was a very aggressive player. But some things that were winners in juniors are not winners in pros. So I had to rely on [my defence] just to stay in matches. Now I feel like I have the strength and mentality to execute those offensive shots.”
Having needed to take care of the load of expectations for many of her younger life, Gauff doesn’t need to have interaction with predictions that she’s going to break by means of on the US Open. She is selecting as an alternative to give attention to the method that has helped her play her greatest tennis through the hard-court swing.
“I believe in just, you give it your all,” she mentioned. “That’s all you can do. I’m going to give it my all in the US Open. If things go great, that’s exciting. If not, I go back and work hard and get ready for the next one. That’s kind of the mentality you have to have.”