Former Wimbledon Champion Convinced Coco Gauff’s Serve Problems ‘Could’ve Been a Five-Minute Fixing Job’
World No.3 Coco Gauff struck a total of 431 double faults in the 2025 WTA season.
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Coco Gauff (Image via X/Barstool Tennis)
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In spite of her serving issues, Coco Gauff has reached three Grand Slam singles finals, winning the 2023 US Open and the 2025 French Open. But her serve struggles during last year’s US Open left her in tears.
Gauff hired biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan last year. It was MacMillan who helped World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka become the dominant force that she is today (at one time she wanted to retire because of her serve struggles). Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion, thinks Gauff’s serve woes couldn’t have been fixed long ago.
Gauff’s serve could have been a five-minute fixing job, but she has taken her years to sort it out. I worked alongside Gavin MacMillan as we found a solution to Brandon Nakashima’s serve, and now he has gone on to become a serving guru.
The former World No. 4, who also made the Australian Open finals in 1987 and 1988, thinks players don’t utilize the former players as coaches.
Sticking with a coach works, and you look back at the best players in tennis, and they have had success doing that. What we are seeing is a trend of players getting rid of coaches because of a few dollars here or there. You give a player all your knowledge, and you want them to work with you to consolidate that into a good career. What happens to often is they take that information and off they go.
Pat Cash added
Gauff has already started her campaign for the 2026 season in the United Cup. The 21-year-old has registered a 3-1 win-loss record following her defeat to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, and her wins over Solana Sierra, Maria Sakkari, and Iga Swiatek. It was her fourth straight and overall fifth win over the six-time Grand Slam champion.
But Gauff’s win over Swiatek went in vain as Poland took their revenge on the defending champions to book a spot in the final for the third consecutive time. Poland lost to Germany in 2024 and to the USA last year.
Ons Jabeur lauds Coco Gauff’s serve
Tunisian ace player Ons Jabeur is currently on the sidelines as she is pregnant with her first child. She announced the news last year and was last seen in action at the 2025 Wimbledon, where in the first round, she gave the walkover to Viktoriya Tomova.
The three-time Grand Slam finalist recently appeared on the LOVE ALL podcast, where, among other things, she praised Coco Gauff’s serves.
She already won two Grand Slams, and a lot of 1000s, she’s been playing good, she’s been at a great level with the same technique. I feel like now, it’s a bit late to change. I think when you focus on something a lot, it becomes too much. She’s one of the best servers on tour, so I think she should trust her serve more.
Ons Jabeur said
Gauff has won five Big Titles (two Majors and three WTA 1000s). But she wouldn’t be proud of her last year’s serve statistics, as she topped just one list- double faults. The American hit 431 double faults.
The next big event of the season is the first Grand Slam tournament- the Australian Open, the main draw of which is scheduled to start on January 18. Gauff has never reached more than one semifinal, reaching the stage in 2024, while last year, she crashed out in the quarterfinals, losing the match to Spain’s Paula Badosa.
Gauff finished the 2025 season with two titles, she won from four finals. She secured trophies at the French Open and the Wuhan Open by defeating Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula, respectively. Prior to these events, she lost the Madrid Open to the Belarusian and the Italian Open to Jasmine Paolini.
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