Coco Gauff suffered another serving disaster throughout her semi-final defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in Wuhan.
It was another catastrophic day for the Coco Gauff serve despite her getting so close to defeating Aryna Sabalenka.
The match was sealed by Gauff’s 21st double fault of the match – a record for a single match this year on the WTA Tour.
Despite her serving woes also present in Beijing last week, she still mangled to capture the title.
With Gauff’s game so well-rounded in all other categories, besides arguably her forehand, the 20-year-old still came so close to toppling Sabalenka, who has only lost one match since losing in Toronto two months ago.
Coco Gauff explains why her serve ‘surprised’ her
Giving up 21 free points is criminal – 24 could win you a set – yet not unusual in this stage of Gauff’s career.
It was the 19 double faults at the US Open which saw her title defense come to an end again in three sets.
Interestingly, the serve is obviously limiting Gauff’s success and win rate, yet not seeing her simply roll over for opponents.
She said, via Punto de Break: “I am working on new things, a slightly different movement, and it is logical that I may encounter problems. I was very surprised at how well my serve worked in Beijing.
“I arrived here somewhat tired, but I take many positive things from coming close to beating one of the best in the world despite my poor serving performance handicap. I think I just need time and to keep working.”
Barely anyone has got a set against Sabalenka in the past few months – this defeat is no major embarrassment or surprise, more just the latest miserable update in Gauff’s continued serving woes.
Coco Gauff is only one fix away from another Grand Slam title
Unfortunately, it’s not by any means a quick fix. The ‘yips’ are a brutal tattoo on any tennis player, remaining forcer difficulty to conceal.
However, her opponent Sabalenka is in many ways the perfect player to look at.
The Belarusian also endured a total serving nightmare during the 2022 season, striking 428 double faults in 601 service games.
Yet just a year on, the Belarusian captured the Australian Open title, something she successfully defended this year.
Gauff’s taste of a major title is something she’s naturally craving once more – luckily she has the perfect player in front of her to prove a route past her problems is possible.