Monica Puig has suggested how Coco Gauff’s poor form could work in her favour ahead of the US Open.
The 20-year-old has plenty of work to do heading into her title defence in New York after suffering early exits from her last four tournaments.
To further illustrate her slump, tennis superstar has now lost her last five matches against players ranked inside the WTA’s top 50.
The American entered last year’s US Open in the best form of her life, but Gauff’s level of play ahead of the 2024 US Open has completely changed.
What is Monica Puig’s theory about Coco Gauff’s poor form?
Coco Gauff came up short in the first round of her Cincinnati Open title defence against Yulia Putinseva.
The French Open women’s doubles champion began the match by losing the first set, but she adjusted her game in the second set and started to play longer rallies and move the Kazak player around the court.
She was rewarded and managed the draw level, and Gauff’s momentum continued into set three where she held a 4-2 lead. But multiple began to spring from her racket as Putinseva reeled off four successive games to win 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
Following another loss for Gauff which cost her plenty of ranking points, Puig appeared on Tennis Channel to discuss the US Open champion and thinks she can use her recent defeats in a positive way heading into the final Grand Slam of the year.
“For Coco this is the first time she is defending three really big titles back to back to back and maybe that’s affecting her mental space,” the 2016 Olympic Games gold medallist said.
“This is something she has to deal with and she’s young and I’m glad she is learning these lessons now rather than later. And hopefully she can take the positives from these moments and move past this.”
Can Coco Gauff rediscover her best form at the US Open?
If there was ever a time for Gauff to be playing her best tennis, it is now.
For the first time in her career she is entering a Grand Slam as the defending champion and perhaps she is feeling that pressure given her recent string of defeats.
To make matters worse, Gauff will likely compete at Flushing Meadows as the third seed as she is set to lose the World number two ranking to Aryna Sabalenka.
But Gauff proved in 2023 how she thrives off the energy from the electric New York crowd and she will have to do the same again in what is set to be a challenging title defence.
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