Andy Roddick states what he wants to make very ‘clear’ about Coco Gauff’s serve after she loses to Naomi Osaka

Follow us on Google Discover

Coco Gauff has really struggled with her serve throughout the North American hard court swing.

Gauff hit 23 double faults at the Canadian Open, which continued into the Cincinnati Open and forced her to make a big change to her team.

The two-time Grand Slam champion split with coach Matt Daly, before Gauff hired biomechanical specialist Gavin MacMillan, who has previously helped Aryna Sabalenka.

However, Gauff’s serve was still causing her problems at the US Open and left her very emotional after her second round match.

Now that the world number three is out of the US Open, with Gauff losing to Naomi Osaka, former world number one Andy Roddick has made a big statement about her serve.

Andy Roddick claims Coco Gauff did not lose to Naomi Osaka because of her serve

Gauff was beaten by Osaka, 6-3 6-2, to bring her Grand Slam season to an end in quite emphatic fashion.

In this match, Gauff hit five double faults, but Roddick was insistent that her serve did not cause her loss to Osaka.

Instead, Roddick claimed that Gauff’s general groundstrokes and return positions were just not able to compete with Osaka’s when speaking on his podcast.

“I think Osaka has been borderline the best player in the tournament so far, pretty easily,” said Roddick. “Beating Coco 3 and 2.

“By the way, in the Coco vs Osaka match. I know a lot of the talk has been about Coco’s serve. She served fine. She did not lose this match because of her serve. Just so we are clear. People are going to say that she had serving struggles and that is going to be the narrative.

“Any time the rally started and Osaka was in the middle of the court beat her forehand to forehand or backhand to backhand. The patterns were there and she was the first to get on the front foot. She dominated that match and it wasn’t about Coco’s serve.

“She found the leak. Coco’s forehand return was not there today. I would have liked to have seen her switch return positions a little bit. When someone is that locked in and can strike the ball like Naomi Osaka you have to get out of the zone.

“I would have liked to have seen Coco go Rafa and go 20 feet back, find all the height in the world and then worry about the next ball when you get to it. Her going toe to toe on cross court forehands with Naomi, I did not think that was it.”

Coco Gauff’s serving statistics at the US Open this year

Roddick’s point is supported by some of Gauff’s serving statistics at the US Open this year, which have been very up and down.

Despite losing in straight sets, Gauff won a higher percentage of second serve points than any other match she played at the US Open.

Gauff’s best serving performance came in her third round match against Magdalena Frech, where she won 71% of her points on first serve.

After her disappointing North American hard court swing, Gauff has been advised to take some time away from the court.

Gauff has now revealed her plan going forward, as she is next scheduled to head to Asia for her remaining tournaments in 2025.