Jimmy Connors says what’s happened to Coco Gauff at the WTA Finals ‘is not good for her’

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Coco Gauff continues to be under the spotlight as she plays her final tournament of the year at the WTA Finals.

Gauff hit 17 double faults in her defeat to Jessica Pegula, as she lost the opening match of her WTA Finals title defence.

Despite the alarming statistics, Serena Williams’ former coach defended Gauff ahead of her second match in Riyadh.

Now, eight-time Grand Slam singles champion Jimmy Connors has given his verdict on Gauff’s recent performances.

Jimmy Connors makes comment about Coco Gauff’s serving issues

Gauff’s serve has been a big talking point all year, but there was a more positive feeling surrounding it after she won the Wuhan Open.

The two-time Grand Slam champion has been putting a lot of work into this shot in particular, with her new coach Gavin MacMillan giving Gauff a goal for her serve.

While there have been some improvements, Connors appeared to be alarmed by the number of double faults Gauff hit against Pegula.

When speaking on his podcast, Connors also drew comparison to the 1982 Wimbledon final he played against John McEnroe, which he actually won despite hitting 13 double faults.

“We all go through tough times and bad times, but I guess the first thing that stands out is 17 double faults,” said Connors. “I went through a period where I was trying to do more with my serve and improve it, and I played the finals of Wimbledon against John McEnroe and hit 13 double faults.

“I look back at that and look at all the grinding you have to do to make up for that, it’s three and a half to four games you are just giving away. Then 40 unforced errors on her forehand and that’s not even her backhand. But she was still in the match. She is the third best player in the world.

“Clean that up a bit, just clean that up. She is a great athlete. The way she moves and you get on a roll like that. That’s a bad roll, where you just continue to make unforced errors.

“That is not good for her, because look how good she is even under that set of circumstances. If she cleans that up a little bit! I know everybody messes up. But it’s not physical, because she is in great shape. Something is going through her mind which does not allow her to cut loose and play. Maybe she is thinking too much. I don’t know. That is a tough one to figure out for me.”

Coco Gauff’s serving statistics in her WTA Finals match against Jessica Pegula compared to Jasmine Paolini

Despite the understandable concern around her serve, Gauff still managed to keep things close against Pegula and she has since bounced straight back.

There were some noticeable improvements in her second match, as Gauff beat Jasmine Paolini to keep her hopes of winning the WTA Finals again alive.

Gauff appeared to be using a different serving tactic against Paolini, which was rewarded with a straight sets win, and saw her only hit three double faults.

There was also a huge improvement in her second serve win percentage, as Gauff won 75% of her points on it compared to 28% against Pegula.

As a result, Gauff was broken only once throughout the match, in comparison to being broken nine times by Pegula.

Paolini has now been eliminated from the singles tournament, but all of the other three players from the Steffi Graf Group could still qualify.

If Gauff beats Aryna Sabalenka, and Pegula beats Paolini, then statistics including head-to-heads, sets and games won at this year’s WTA Finals will be brought into play.