Martina Navratilova has urged Coco Gauff to learn how to improve one shot from Iga Swiatek.
The 21-year-old has established herself as one of the best players on the WTA Tour and is arguably its biggest current star off the court.
The World number three has already won two of tennis’ biggest titles such as a Grand Slam title and the WTA Finals.
But Gauff has struggled for consistency at times, and this is largely due to two shots that have let her down during matches.
Martina Navratilova tells Coco Gauff to improve her forehand by watching Iga Swiatek
The two shots that continue to give Coco Gauff problems is her forehand and second serve.
On numerous occasions Gauff has gone into double digits in double faults during matches. Gauff currently leads the WTA’s top 100 with 104 double faults this season.
Gauff also has the joint-second lowest percentage of second serve points won of players inside the WTA’s top 60, ahead of Emma Raducanu.
But during an interview with the WTA website, 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova focused on Gauff’s forehand, which has been a target for opponents, and she thinks the American should watch Iga Swiatek’s forehand to try and improve her own.
“I have no doubt she’ll find her rhythm. She’s under immense scrutiny wherever she goes,” she said. “Technically, her serve has improved more than the results show, but the forehand remains a challenge.
“Others have a similar grip, though not as extreme. Watching footage of Iga’s forehand could be insightful — small adjustments could make a big difference.
“Iga’s contact point is likely more consistent, and refining that could help Gauff handle opponents who continue to target it.”
What are Coco Gauff’s forehand statistics in 2025?
Gauff’s forehand errors played a huge role in her defeats in 2025 so far.
Excluding Gauff’s Indian Wells loss to Belinda Bencic, she recorded 31 forehand unforced errors during her Australian Open defeat to Paula Badosa, compared to 17 winners.
In Qatar Gauff suffered an opening round defeat to Marta Kostyuk, where she hit 21 unforced errors via her forehand to just three winners.
Against McCartney Kessler in Dubai, the former US Open champion registered 34 unforced forehand mistakes, to just five winners in a 4-6, 5-7 defeat.
This is something needs to improve on if she is to become the World number one and win more Grand Slam championships, things she is certainly capable of doing.
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