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Service Numbers and a Coaching Change: Gauff Arrives at the US Open Under Scrutiny

Gauff changed coaches days before the US Open as troubling serving figures drive the decision. Ahead

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Coco Gauff begins her US Open campaign on Tuesday night amid fresh attention on two linked developments: a late coaching change and persistent serving problems.

Last week it was confirmed Gauff had split with coach Matt Daly after an 11-month partnership, the pair parting ways with just a week until the final major tournament of 2025. Daly’s work since joining after the US Open last year coincided with significant results. The American won her second Grand Slam singles title at the French Open this spring and added titles at the China Open and the WTA Finals at the end of 2024.

Despite those achievements, serving numbers tell a different story and help explain the timing of the change. No woman served more double faults than Gauff on the WTA Tour last year, and she appears set to lead that unwanted list again in 2025. Heading into New York she has recorded 320 double faults across 47 matches, an average of 6.8 per match.

That total is 95 more than Alycia Parks (225), with Ekaterina Alexandrova (215) and Jelena Ostapenko (211) a long way behind. By contrast world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka has 122 double faults in 61 matches, an average of two per match, while world No 2 Iga Swiatek has 175 double faults this season, an average of 2.87.

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Aces and serve efficiency further underline the gap. Sabalenka has 217 aces to 122 double faults; Swiatek has 180 aces to 175 double faults. Gauff’s 138 aces leave her with a minus-182 differential between aces and double faults.

First-serve metrics are comparable at the top: Gauff lands 60 percent of first serves and wins 69.5 percent of those points; Sabalenka is at 62.4 percent and 68 percent, Swiatek 62 percent and 69.3 percent. The defining weakness is the second serve. Gauff has won just 42.7 percent of points on her second serve in 2025, compared with 50.5 percent for Sabalenka and 50.3 percent for Swiatek. She has also held 68.7 percent of service games, behind Sabalenka’s 76.6 percent and Swiatek’s 78.1 percent.

Gavin MacMillan, who has previously worked on a high-profile serve issue, is the new coach. If Gauff can remedy her service instability, the statistical ceiling suggests greater returns are possible.

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Anisimova Enters WTA Top 3 and Becomes the New American No. 1

Amanda Anisimova rises to No. 3 in the WTA rankings and becomes the top American player. ©Prange2025

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Amanda Anisimova rises to a career-high No. 3 in the latest WTA rankings, marking her first appearance inside the Top 3 and establishing her as the top-ranked American player. She moves up from No. 4 while Coco Gauff drops from No. 3 to No. 4, a swap driven by this week’s points adjustments.

There were no tournaments last week, but points from Week 1 of 2025 have dropped off the rankings. Anisimova remains on 6,287 ranking points. Gauff’s total falls from 6,763 to 6,273 after last year’s United Cup results are removed. The net effect places Anisimova ahead of Gauff and makes her the highest-ranked American on either the ATP or WTA lists; Gauff is now the second-highest-ranked American.

Anisimova’s climb carries additional historical notes. She becomes just the third player born in the 2000s to reach the Top 3 in WTA history, and the fifth player born in that decade to achieve a Top 3 ranking across either the WTA or ATP. She is also the 15th American woman to reach the Top 3 since WTA rankings began in 1975. For context, 11 American men have reached the Top 3 since ATP rankings were introduced in 1973.

Other notable ranking changes this week include Linda Noskova moving from No. 13 to a personal best of No. 12. Clara Tauson slips from No. 12 to No. 14; Noskova lost her second match in Brisbane a year ago while Tauson won the Auckland title at the same time last season. Cristina Bucsa makes her Top 50 debut, rising from No. 51 to No. 50. Anastasia Potapova drops from No. 50 to No. 55; Bucsa lost in the first round in Brisbane last year while Potapova reached the third round.

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© 2025 Robert Prange

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Hsieh Su-wei at 40: Four decades distilled into 40 defining numbers

Hsieh Su-wei turns 40: 40 milestones from No. 1 doubles weeks to Grand Slam and tour titles. Today!

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Hsieh Su-wei celebrates her 40th birthday with a resume few peers can match. A concise selection of career milestones captures the arc of a player who has excelled in doubles, enjoyed late-career singles highlights and returned to the tour with sustained success.

She first reached No. 1 in doubles on May 12, 2014, becoming the first Taiwanese player to reach the top spot in tennis in either women’s or men’s, singles or doubles. She claimed two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2024 alongside Jan Zielinski; those were their first and third tournaments together. Her three WTA singles titles came in 2012 (Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou) and 2018 (Hiroshima).

Hsieh has won Grand Slam women’s doubles titles with four different partners: two with Peng Shuai, and one each with Barbora Strycova, Elise Mertens and Wang Xinyu. She has five Wimbledon titles, including four in women’s doubles (2013 with Peng, 2019 with Strycova, 2021 with Mertens and 2023 with Strycova) and one mixed in 2024 with Zielinski.

Her WTA Finals record features six appearances and a title in 2013 with Peng; she reached the semifinals in 2025 with Jelena Ostapenko. Across Grand Slams she owns seven women’s doubles majors, plus two mixed doubles majors. Indian Wells stands out among her 13 WTA 1000 doubles titles, winning it four times in 2014 (with Peng), 2018 (with Strycova), 2021 and 2014 (with Mertens).

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Other highlights: she has 36 doubles wins in 2025 (36-18), 37 career tour-level doubles titles (35 women’s, two mixed), and 40 career tour-level titles overall (three singles, 35 women’s doubles and two mixed). She spent 59 weeks at No. 1 in doubles and is one of only 18 women to log 50 or more weeks at the top. Her Top 10 and Top 15 singles victories mostly arrived in her 30s, including her first Top 10 singles win at Roland Garros in 2017 and a landmark win over reigning No. 1 Simona Halep at Wimbledon in 2018.

Early markers include a perfect 30-0 start below tour level at 15 in 2001 and her first Grand Slam doubles title at Wimbledon in 2013. She retired from singles in 2024 after Miami. Hsieh is the top seed in doubles in Brisbane this week alongside Jelena Ostapenko.

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Alcaraz Tops 2025 ATP Earnings List and Clears $60 Million in Career Prize Money

Alcaraz tops 2025 ATP prize money with over $21 million and passes $60 million career total. Update

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The ATP’s final prize money standings for 2025 confirm a season dominated by Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Alcaraz led the tour with more than $21 million in prize money for the year, while Sinner followed with north of $19 million. World No. 3 Alexander Zverev ranked third on the list with $7.5 million.

Alcaraz’s 2025 total is the second-highest single-season haul in ATP history, behind only Novak Djokovic’s 2015 figure. Sinner’s earnings for 2025 also produced a milestone: he became the first player to exceed $19 million in a season and the first to top $16 million in two different seasons.

Beyond the single-season figures, Alcaraz’s 2025 earnings pushed his career prize money past $60 million. That achievement marks him as the first player, male or female, born since 2000 to reach that level. The draft also notes that he is the first player born since 1988 to pass the $60 million mark.

The final prize money leaderboard underlines the financial gap at the very top of men’s tennis in 2025, with the two leading players combining for the bulk of top-year payouts. The published top-10 list for 2025 places Alcaraz and Sinner well clear of the next tier, with Zverev as the highest earner after them.

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These numbers frame a season in which prize money concentrated at the top for a small group of players. Alcaraz’s performance in 2025 not only reinforced his place as the year’s top earner but also cemented a rapid climb in career earnings, while Sinner’s consistency produced an unprecedented dual-season benchmark in annual pay.

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