Coco Gauff said to have an ongoing problem which is ‘just unheard of’ as her chances at the French Open are rated

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Coco Gauff made an impressive start to her 2025 season.

The 21-year-old guided Team USA to United Cup glory in January, and looked primed for a strong run at the Australian Open.

Gauff reached the quarter-finals before losing to Paula Badosa, and the American has not been the same player since.

She struggled throughout the Middle East and the North American hard court swing, and she has plenty of work to do ahead of the clay court season.

Rennae Stubbs sends warning to Coco Gauff about her serve

Before the Indian Wells Masters, World number three Coco Gauff was on a three-match losing streak.

Following defeats in Melbourne, Qatar and Dubai, Gauff suffered successive round of 16 defeats, first Belinda Bencic at Indian Wells and before losing to Magda Linette in Miami.

Once again her serve let her down at a crucial time, as she registered 12 double faults in her defeat to Linette. Taking to her podcast to issue a brutally honest assessment of Gauff’s serve, multi-time Grand Slam doubles champion Rennae Stubbs thinks the serve will continue to be her Achilles heel.

“With Coco, the ball toss is just all over the shop. She doesn’t get behind her enough,” she said. “Her grip is wrong. I think her elbow gets super low and so close to her body.

“The left arm drops down. There are so many little technical things which are going to be a problem for her going forward forever. Because it doesn’t just go away. Billie Jean King always said bad technique breaks down under pressure.

“That is unfortunately going to be a problem for her forever unless she addresses that again because you cannot be serving 11, 12, 13, 14 double faults a match because that is just unheard of.”

Rennae Stubbs discusses Coco Gauff’s chances at the French Open

Gauff will now turn her attention towards the spring clay court season, which will culminate with the French Open.

The World number three has shown her quality on clay and she made the French Open final back in 2022, but lost to Iga Swiatek.

Gauff has previously expressed how much she enjoys playing on the clay. She will be excited to play on the dirt once again and despite her serving woes Stubbs thinks Gauff can succeed at Roland Garros.

“We love Coco and we talk about her all the time. I am sure on clay she can get away with it a little more,” Stubbs added. “She doesn’t need to go for the big bomb on the first serve because her ability on the baseline is so good.

“Clay, for me, I think if she is going to win another Grand Slam it would be on clay or obviously on a hard court again but we always pull for her.”