Connect with us

Analytics & Stats US Open WTA

Why a short break could help Coco Gauff repair her serve and reset

After emotional US Open struggles, Coco Gauff may benefit from a measured break to fix her serve. now

Published

on

Suggesting that world No 3 Coco Gauff step away from competition for a short period will sound surprising, yet the argument rests on clear evidence from this season. In June Gauff celebrated her first Roland Garros title after a gritty win over world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, but even on that day her serve remained a visible weakness.

The issue resurfaced at the US Open. Gauff changed her coaching team only days before the tournament and had limited time to work with new coach Gavin MacMillan before her opening match against Ajla Tomljanovic. She admitted the adjustment affected her early play and that processing new information under Grand Slam pressure proved difficult.

“It’s hard to do what we are trying to do during a Grand Slam,” said Gauff.

She explained the reasoning behind the late decision and her long-term thinking about her team: “It was a very sudden decision to make the change. Gavin magically became available. I just felt this was the best decision for my game, at least, and I had to go with what I was feeling.

Advertisement

“I think Matt is a great coach and a great person and 100% love working with him. Yeah, I mean, we obviously had a very successful partnership, but I’m just looking at long term.

“I know Gavin has had experience with this before so, hoping I can just take on his knowledge and see what can happen.

“It was a decision I had to make and by this time next year, I’m sure I will be serving a lot better. It’s all about the mechanics and like learning a new language. It’s just about trying that new [service] motion and when I do it well, it always provides a good result.

“The other thing is not just thinking about the serve. I need to think about how I will play out the point. It’s not a mental thing. It’s a biomechanics thing and I’m just working hard to get it right.”

Advertisement

Gauff also described an emotional episode during her second round match against Donna Vekic: “I think it was a panic attack,” she said. “I’ve had them before off court but it was the first time it happened to me on the court.

“I was trying to calm myself down and breathe in the moment and that was why I went to the bathroom after the first set to reset.

“It was one of the moments where I was like ‘I want to get off the court right now and it be over with’. I think I needed it to happen because the support I got afterwards I realised how much people love me and how much I should love myself in those moments.

“It was a learning experience, I’ll remember it for the rest of my career and know there’s a lot more to be grateful for than losing on a court.”

Advertisement

Given how much a player’s game is anchored to the serve, a focused block of time with MacMillan away from competition could make practical gains. Missing the Asian swing to rework mechanics would be a short-term cost for a potential long-term benefit to a career that has already produced two major titles by age 21.

Analytics & Stats ATP French Open

Auger-Aliassime Records 100th Week Inside ATP Top 10

Auger-Aliassime reaches his 100th week in the ATP Top 10; he is currently ranked No. 5. Milos Raonic

Published

on

Felix Auger-Aliassime is celebrating his 100th career week inside the ATP Top 10 as the clay-court major approaches. The Canadian has reached the milestone in four separate stints: November 15th to 21st, 2001 (one week), January 10th to September 11th, 2022 (35 weeks), October 17th, 2022 to June 11th, 2023 (34 weeks) and October 27th, 2025 to present (30 weeks and counting).

Auger-Aliassime is currently at his career-high ranking of No. 5 and joins a small group of players born in the 2000s to accumulate triple-digit weeks in the elite. The draft notes he reached the mark “after exactly who you’re thinking.”

The milestone places him among the longest-serving Canadians to reach the Top 10. He becomes the second Canadian to log that many weeks at the top of the rankings, following Milos Raonic, who spent 151 weeks in the Top 10 across the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons. Denis Shapovalov is the only other Canadian to have reached the ATP Top 10, spending 10 weeks there across 2020 and 2021.

The pattern of Auger-Aliassime’s tenure in the Top 10—multiple returns to the group rather than a single continuous stretch—highlights his resilience and consistency at the highest level. As Roland Garros nears, the 100-week marker is a reminder of his standing on the ATP Tour and of the depth of Canadian men’s tennis in this period.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Analytics & Stats Grand Slam

28 Numbers for Aryna Sabalenka on Her 28th Birthday

Sabalenka turns 28: 28 statistics from No.1 weeks to Grand Slam titles and tie-break records. Today!

Published

on

Aryna Sabalenka turns 28 and this profile assembles a number for each year of her life drawn from the milestones listed below.

1 — The No. 1 ranking, which she will hold for an 89th and 90th career week during Rome over the next two weeks.

2 — Two year-end No. 1 finishes, in 2024 and 2025. She is one of only 13 players to finish No. 1 in back-to-back years in WTA history.

3 — One of three women this century to be No. 1 every week of a calendar year, joining Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty after doing so in 2025.

Advertisement

4 — Four Grand Slam titles, all on hard courts: two Australian Open trophies (2023, 2024) and two US Open crowns (2024, 2025).

5 — Five straight Top 5 year-end finishes from 2021 to 2025, the only woman to finish the last five years in a row in the Top 5.

6 — Six straight Top 10 year-end finishes when including her No. 10 in 2020; the only woman with six consecutive Top 10 year-end placings.

7 — Reached the last seven hard-court major finals in a row, a run beginning at the 2023 Australian Open; the last woman to do seven in a row on hard courts was Martina Hingis.

Advertisement

8 — Won her first eight Grand Slam quarterfinal matches in a row, the second woman in the Open Era to do so after Chris Evert.

9 — Reached nine finals in 2025, the most on the women’s tour that year, and won a tour-leading four titles.

10 — Owns the 10th-longest streak at No. 1 in WTA history, secured this week with her 81st consecutive week at the top.

11 — The 11th-most career weeks at No. 1 with this week being her 89th overall; 11 WTA 1000 titles, including two already this year.

Advertisement

12 — Surpassed 12,000 ranking points for the first time in her career last summer, reaching a career-high 12,420 after Wimbledon.

13 — Reached the quarterfinals or better at the last 13 majors she has played, a run dating to the 2022 US Open; 12 of those were semifinals or better.

14 — Reached 14 career Grand Slam semifinals and has won seven of her last eight Grand Slam semifinals.

15 — Earned more than $15 million in prize money in 2025 alone, $15,008,519, a single-season WTA record.

Advertisement

16 — Three 15-match winning streaks in her career have each been snapped before 16; most recently she had six match points to break the run but did not.

17 — Reached the quarterfinals or better at her last 17 tournaments in a row, a streak beginning last February.

18 — Won 18 consecutive sets at the US Open at one point between her third-round match in 2024 and the 2025 semifinals; the only sets she lost in those two events were to Ekaterina Alexandrova and Jessica Pegula.

19 — Won 19 tie-breaks in a row during the 2025 season, the Open Era record for most consecutive tie-breaks won by a woman.

Advertisement

20 — Won her last 20 Grand Slam tie-breaks in a row, the Open Era record for any player at Grand Slams, surpassing Novak Djokovic’s 19.

21 — Her last straight-set defeat at a major came 21 majors ago at the 2020 US Open to Victoria Azarenka, 6-1, 6-3.

22 — Posted a 22-3 overall tie-break record in 2025, the most tie-break wins by a woman in a single season in the Open Era.

23 — Broke into the Top 5 at age 23 after winning her first Madrid title in 2021, defeating Barty in the final.

Advertisement

24 — Has 24 career titles, 21 on hard courts and three on the clay of Madrid (2021, 2023, 2025).

25 — Reached No. 1 for the first time at age 25 after her run to the 2023 US Open final; won 25 consecutive sets at the Australian Open from 2023 to 2025.

26 — Owns a 26-2 record this year; both losses were narrow, including a match where she led Elena Rybakina 3-0 in the third set of the Australian Open final and a match where she had six match points against Hailey Baptiste in Madrid.

27 — Spent her full 27th year ranked No. 1, all 365 days from May 5, 2025 to May 4, 2026.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Analytics & Stats ATP Grand Slam

Carlos Alcaraz at 23: the numbers that define his early career

At 23, Alcaraz already has seven majors, eight Masters 1000s, a Career Grand Slam and 15 big titles.

Published

on

“Feliz cumpleaños, Carlitos!”

Carlos Alcaraz turns 23 with a résumé few players achieve over an entire career. The following numbers, drawn from his first 23 years, outline how quickly he has climbed the sport.

1. No. 1 — he first reached the top ranking as a 19-year-old in 2022, the first and still only teenager to do so since the rankings began in 1973.
2. Two year-end No. 1 finishes, in 2022 and 2025.
3. Three match points saved in the Roland Garros final last year; he recovered from 3-5, 0-40 in the fourth set to beat Jannik Sinner, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), becoming the first man in the Open Era to save three match points to win a major final.
4. $64,997,598 in career prize money, the fourth-most in ATP history behind Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
5. Five — he won his first five Grand Slam finals in a row, second in the Open Era only to Federer.
6. A 6-2 career record against reigning world No. 1s (1-1 vs Djokovic at No. 1, 5-1 vs Sinner at No. 1).
7. Seven Grand Slam titles: Australian Open (2026), Roland Garros (2024, 2025), Wimbledon (2023, 2024) and US Open (2022, 2025). He is the youngest man to reach seven majors.
8. Eight Masters 1000 titles, the second-youngest man to reach that total after Nadal.
9. Nine ATP 500 titles and a 16-match winning streak at ATP 500 events, with Queen’s Club and Tokyo last year and Doha this year.
10. He ended Djokovic’s 10-year, 45-match winning streak on Centre Court by winning the 2023 Wimbledon final, 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
11. Eleven hard-court and 11 clay-court titles, plus four grass-court titles including two Wimbledons.
12. A 12-match winning streak in five-setters; he is 15-1 in five-set matches, the lone loss to Matteo Berrettini at the 2022 Australian Open.
13. Surpassed 13,000 ranking points for the first time after the Australian Open this year, reaching a career-high 13,650.
14. Titles in 14 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Croatia, France, Italy, Japan, Monaco, Netherlands, Qatar, Spain, UK and USA.
15. Fifteen career big titles (seven majors, eight Masters 1000s); runner-up at the 2024 Olympics and the 2025 ATP Finals.
16. Made a winning ATP Tour debut at 16, beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas in Rio de Janeiro in 2020, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (2).
17. Seventeen Top-10 wins in 2025 (17-4 vs Top 10 that year).
18. Broke into the Top 10 at 18 on April 25, 2022.
19. First Grand Slam title at 19 at the 2022 US Open.
20. A perfect 20-0 record in Grand Slam first-round matches.
21. $21,354,778 earned in 2025, the second-highest single-season prize money total in ATP history behind Djokovic’s $21,646,145 in 2015.
22. Completed the Career Grand Slam at 22 with the Australian Open this year, the youngest man ever to do so.

Continue Reading

Trending