Coco Gauff endured a disappointing start to her WTA Finals title defence by losing her opening match to Jessica Pegula.
Gauff impressed with fast aces at times against Pegula, but overshadowing those were a stunning 17 double faults.
Surprisingly, Pegula praised Gauff’s serve, which came back to haunt the 2024 WTA Finals champion during their latest meeting in Riyadh.
Gauff hired biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan before this year’s US Open in a bid to improve her serve, with the latter having previously helped her WTA rival Aryna Sabalenka in that regard.
What Sam Querrey finds ‘incredible’ about Coco Gauff after her loss to Jessica Pegula
While there have been signs of improvement, her double fault problem was apparent, although former player Sam Querrey has opted to see a positive in his fellow American despite her loss.
Querrey said of Gauff on the Nothing Major Show: “I will say this about Coco. She made 17 double faults. 45 errors.
“And lost in three sets to Pegula, who is ranked five in the world. In a sense that is incredible that Coco keeps doing that.
“So many players, myself included, if I had 45 errors and 17 double faults, I would have checked out of the match a long time ago.
“She continues to do that and hangs in these matches. She is so mentally tough that she is in the matches after having those stats. It’s almost like an incredible feat, I think.”
Gauff meets Jasmine Paolini in her second WTA Finals group match, and Sabalenka in her third and final match.
Jack Sock and John Isner share verdicts on Coco Gauff’s serve
Querrey certainly isn’t the only former player to be feeling somewhat bemused by Gauff’s issues with her serve.
Jack Sock commented: “I wonder where it’s gotten to the point with the serving that it’s almost expected.
“She is going into the match and knows she is going to double fault a lot, so she is locked in on the return games even more, so she is like I need to break seven times this match to win, as I know I am going to double fault so much.”
John Isner added: “It is crazy. Sometimes she will go a few tournaments and the serve is fine and she is not double faulting. And then boom. The demons on the serve come back.”
Isner is certainly a reliable source on the matter, with the retired American remaining at the very top of the pile for the most aces hit on the ATP Tour.
Aces shouldn’t be a priority for Gauff and MacMillan right now, with the former needing to solve her double fault struggles, having committed more than any other player this season.
That will be much easier said than done, but she can take confidence from Sabalenka’s recovery in that area under the biomechanics coach.
Sabalenka almost quit tennis amid her double fault struggles, but is now one of the best servers on the WTA Tour, ranking fourth for service games won.
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