Coco Gauff came through her opening match at the Canadian Open, but it was not always pretty.
Gauff decided to skip the Washington Open after her first round loss at Wimbledon, returning to the matchcourt instead in Montreal.
The American is fully committed to the Canadian Open tournament, with Gauff playing both singles and doubles in Montreal this year.
However, at one point it looked like Gauff’s singles campaign was going to come crashing to an end in her match against Danielle Collins, where she hit a colossal 23 double faults.
Rennae Stubbs gives Coco Gauff serving advice after she hit 23 double faults vs Danielle Collins
Gauff and Collins were United Cup teammates earlier this year, but on this occasion they were on the opposite side of the court.
As a non-seeded player, Collins also had the luxury of having one match under her belt already after beating Viktoriya Tomova in the first round.
Despite leading by a set and a break at one stage of the match, Gauff actually found herself in a position where Collins was serving for victory at 6-5 in the third set.
However, she managed to break back and beat Collins in the tie-break, with Gauff winning 7-5 4-6 7-6(2).
A big factor that contributed to Gauff’s struggles throughout this match was her serve as she hit 23 double faults in total.
This is the most that any player has hit on the WTA Tour all year, with Gauff also hitting the second most of 21 in her match against Moyuka Uchijima at Indian Wells.
Someone who knows about the importance of a good serve is former doubles world number one Rennae Stubbs.
Stubbs has commented on Gauff’s service woes in the past, and in a new social media post gave the Roland Garros champion advice on what she can do to fix it.
The Australian wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “I really wish Coco would just think about getting under the ball more on her 2nd serve. She has to accelerate up not down…so think 7pm on the ball not noon…it’s hard to explain but if u think of the ball as a clock it helps.”
She later added, “Also Coco, get that toss back and don’t get on that front foot too early.”
Prior to the Canadian Open, Gauff had hit 24 double faults in her last three matches combined, nearly surpassing that in just one match against Collins.
Rennae Stubbs explains why Coco Gauff is still able to win when serving poorly
Although Gauff gave Collins 23 free points on just her serve alone, she still managed to win the match.
This is similar to the aforementioned Indian Wells match against Uchijima, with Gauff also coming through that in a third set tie-break.
Despite the critique of her serving technique, Stubbs sensed that Gauff would beat Collins, and went on to praise her fighting spirit.
Stubbs wrote, “Coco’s speed, tenacity and fight wins her so many matches! I know it’s not over but trust me, I think she still wins this…she just never gives up. It’s a true testament to her guts! she doesn’t let the worst affect her best! Sign of a champion.”
Gauff will be hoping that her service figures can support her fighting spirit in her next singles match at the Canadian Open where she will play Veronika Kudermetova.
However, before that match Gauff will partner compatriot McCartney Kessler in a doubles match against Fanny Stollar and Fang-Hsien Wu.
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