Coco Gauff always has plenty of scrutiny and expectation on her shoulders before each tournament she enters.
This intensifies ahead of Grand Slams, especially her home tournament of the US Open, which comes on Sunday.
But there is more buzz around the world number two ahead of playing in New York due to her big coaching change.
Gauff split with Matt Daly and hired biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan to help fix her serve, just days before commencing her latest US Open campaign.
Andy Roddick thinks Coco Gauff hiring a new coach just before the US Open is an ‘ambitious thing’
It is well documented how Coco Gauff has struggled with her serve throughout her career.
Her average second serve percentage in 2025 is 42.7%, the lowest in the WTA’s top 25. Furthermore, Gauff has served a tour-leading 320 double faults this season.
Ahead of her home Grand Slam, the 21-year-old decided it was time for a change. Gauff sacked Daly after less than a year working with him, before hiring MacMillan, the same coach that helped Aryna Sabalenka fix her serve in 2022.
This is a bold move from the world number three, as Andy Roddick described it as ‘ambitious’ with the US Open set to commence in just two days.
“She [Gauff] has shaken up the coaching staff this week. Matt Daly out, biomechanist in, who worked with Aryna Sabalenka,” Roddick explained via his ‘Served’ podcast.
“We forget Sabalenka had the serving yips a few years ago. We forget about that. I do think changing to biomechanics the week before you play a major seems like an ambitious thing to do.”
“The former ATP world number one added: “This MacMillan, the biomechanic who has come in. 10 out of 10 job with Aryna Sabalenka. There is precedent for this guy being really, really good.
“But that was done over an off season, that was not done on a Tuesday and a Wednesday before a major, just so we are clear. I am telling you, I have two dedicated practice sessions where we made a couple of adjustments with Coco, this is a year and a half ago now, and I have sat and seen it with my own eyes sitting two feet away from her.
“A couple of adjustments and her make 40 serves in a row. To me that suggests that the physical part of it, we are trying to solve for a biomechanics issue that I largely think is just a product of I have to answer something about my serve all the time, it is on top of my mind, it is something that does get the yips sometimes.
“There is no way around 20 something double faults in a match. Also, imagine being so good you could do that and win a major. It is unbelievable.”
Who is Coco Gauff’s first opponent at the 2025 US Open?
Gauff will begin her partnership with coach MacMillan in her ranks at the US Open, a tournament she won in 2023.
She will open her campaign against Ajla Tomljanovic, who ended Serena Williams’ career at Flushing Meadows back in 2022.
The two-time Grand Slam champion has played against the Australian on just one previous occasion.
That came at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Fresh from carrying America’s flag with LeBron James at the opening ceremony, Gauff opened her campaign with a 6-3, 6-0 victory against Tomljanovic.
Gauff exited the Olympics in the very next round, losing to Croatia’s Donna Vekic, who went on to claim a silver medal.
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