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Analysts Praise Coco Gauff’s Mid-Open Serve Overhaul as Risky but Necessary

Coco Gauff adjusted her serve during the 2025 US Open; analysts called the mid-tournament work bold.

Published

6 months ago

August 27, 2025

On-air analysts praised Coco Gauff’s decision to rework her serve during the 2025 US Open after a narrow first-round win over Ajla Tomljanovic.

“Most people would have waited until after this tournament, maybe sought out some exhibitions to be able to trial it in a low-stakes, low-pressure environment, but that’s not Coco Gauff,” said former world No. 1 Jim Courier. “That’s why she’s going to be one of the game’s greats, because she’s willing to just lay it on the line constantly and fight through it. Frankly, I love and admire it, and I’m just baffled that she has the chutzpah to do it.”

Gauff was seen working with biomechanic expert Gavin MacMillan in the days before the final major of the season, and later confirmed she had parted ways with coach Matt Daly and linked up with MacMillan. MacMillan is credited in this context with reworking the serve of current world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

“It’s really fascinating,” said Courier. “Jannik Sinner made a change with his footwork before Wimbledon a couple of years ago but that was just the footwork. She’s doing a little bit different things with her hip, her shoulders, with her racquet toss. This is highly complicated stuff, and to put it into practice in real time, I cannot stress enough how much that takes guts.”

Gauff served 10 double faults in the match with Tomljanovic, an improvement from the 16 she struck in Cincinnati the previous week against Jasmine Paolini. Under the lights on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and despite a degree of emotional exhaustion, she closed out a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5 victory to reach the second round.

“You can see her make the real-time adjustments in between what she would miss on the first and what she would do on the second,” noted Lindsay Davenport. “If you were really looking at her, you could see her saying, ‘Ok, now I’m going to do this.’ So, she was trying to implement all these changes, between first, between seconds. That takes energy out of you, as well. My heart really broke when she was admitting that this was such a tough week.

“Normally, when you go into a major, you want things to go great, you’re trying to get your player to feel great about themselves and it’s just a little bit of fine-tuning, ‘Oh, maybe just a few more cross-court.’ Not such detailed instruction.”

Chanda Rubin highlighted Gauff’s baseline play and the quality of rallies. “She said after the match that it wasn’t great at times, but she had some incredible rallies with Ajla Tomljanovic,” said Rubin. “There was a high level of tennis at times, and I think a lot of it got overshadowed by the serve, but there was a lot I think she could be proud of how she got through that match.”

Courier warned the changes will likely prevent Gauff from reaching her peak form in Flushing Meadows but could pay dividends later. “When players talk about getting into the zone, that spot where they’re just reacting and flowing and feeling their tennis, they’re not thinking one bit about technique,” said Courier. “Unfortunately for her, she’s going to have to be thinking about this technique. She has to be super mindful. It’s literally the only thing she’s thinking about when she sets up to hit a serve.

“So, there’s no way she’s going to play her best tennis this tournament. No way. But if this works for her and by the end of this year or by the Australian Open, she no longer has to think about it and she can get into that flow state, that’s an investment worth making.”

Related Topics:Ajla Tomljanovic Aryna Sabalenka Coco Gauff

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Amanda Anisimova steady after burnout, advances in US Open first round

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Sharapova backs Coco Gauff as her pick for the 2025 US Open

Analytics & Stats Player News Tennis Coaching

Gauff leans into topspin and pace with a simple mantra: trust and accelerate

Gauff trusts more racquet-head speed, using topspin and pace to improve her serve and forehand more.

Published

1 month ago

January 23, 2026

IN Tennis Times

For nearly the first hour of her second-round match on Friday, Coco Gauff watched Hailey Baptiste play the way Gauff has been trying to play. Baptiste, a longtime junior friend ranked 67 spots behind Gauff and with 11 fewer titles, captured the first set 6-3 by snapping serves into the corners and following them with inside-out forehands struck with pace and heavy topspin.

“She was dictating a lot, especially on her forehand side,” Gauff said of that opening set. “I was just trying my best to neutralize that.”

Gauff’s path back was not to outgun Baptiste in raw power. “I thought I served better in the second and third set, got more first serves in,” she said, and, “Overall I think just trying to put her on the back foot and not me being on the back foot.” She lost the opening set but answered with a 6-0 second set and closed 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Gauff entered the match less smooth in certain areas: she hit her serve five m.p.h. slower, produced 12 fewer winners and committed six more double faults than her opponent. Still, she turned it by running, cutting her unforced errors to 22 against Baptiste’s 38, attacking with her backhand and winning 83 percent of her first-serve points. At a tense 30-30 late in the third, she finished a rally with an inside-out forehand winner.

She accepts that the serve and forehand will be inspected and insists progress is gradual. “I think at this point I have the right motion,” Gauff said after beating Baptiste. “I feel like I’m working on the right things. Now it’s just trying to, I guess, erase old demons and actually do it.” “There was moments today I was definitely nervous, and I felt like I’m getting better with each match dealing with that on those pressure moments.”

As one legendary player put it: “Racquet-head speed is your friend.” Gauff has rediscovered that topspin and faster racquet-head speed can coexist. “For me, I just felt like I had to hit flatter to hit bigger,” she says. “I’ve always thought for some reason in my head that hitting shape was more defensive, and I realized that you can be really offensive and aggressive hitting with shape,” says Gauff, using “shape” to mean spin and arc. The biggest change for Gauff in 2026, she says, is “just trusting and accelerating.” She will next face Grand Slam finalist Karolina Muchova, with the potential third-round meeting against Mirra Andreeva awaiting the winner.

Analytics & Stats Player News WTA

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

Published

2 months ago

January 5, 2026

IN Tennis Times

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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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!

Published

2 months ago

January 4, 2026

IN Tennis Times

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).

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.