Serena Williams’ former coach tells Coco Gauff what she must do after her heavy defeat to Amanda Anisimova

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Coco Gauff had no answers to Amanda Anisimova as she suffered an emphatic defeat in the China Open semifinals.

Gauff was beaten by Anisimova, 6-1 6-2, as her title defence in Beijing officially came to an end.

Following her disappointing exit from the WTA 1000 tournament, Gauff revealed if she plans to return to the China Open.

Gauff, who is at risk of being overtaken as American number one, has also now been given some advice by the former coach of Serena Williams.

Rick Macci tells Coco Gauff what she needs to work on after China Open defeat

Rick Macci is the former coach of both Serena and Venus Williams, and often comments on players from both the ATP and WTA Tours including Gauff.

After watching Gauff handily beaten by Anisimova, Macci told the two-time Grand Slam champion that she can make her serve a weapon again if she works on it in the off-season.

Macci wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Coco is a champion. She is just 21 years old. Her serve will become a weapon.

“If she unplugs this December does reconstructive surgery and rewires the muscle memory and learns the ATP forehand she will be able to hold the baseline and dictate instead of defend.”

In her defeat to Anisimova, Gauff only hit five double faults, but was restricted to winning just 39% of her points on first serve.

Macci has previously spoken about Gauff’s forehand, and in a follow-up social media post he suggested that is also something she needs to do once this season is over, and pointed to ATP players as the example she should follow.

He added, “Coco now understands even more she has to rewire the forehand and have a science based ATP blueprint with have the racquet go to the outside of the body and develop two pronations that go quicker faster but will be shorter. She can do it.”

What is next for Coco Gauff after her China Open defeat?

There will be little time for Gauff to dwell on her defeat to Anisimova, as attention now turns to the Wuhan Open.

Gauff reached the semifinals in Wuhan last year, and will want to go even further in 2025.

However, some of the dangers in Gauff’s half of the draw include Mirra Andreeva, Karolina Muchova and Emma Navarro.

Gauff could also play Anisimova again if both players reach the final of the Wuhan Open for the first time.

Before she can even think about the final, Gauff will play either Xinyu Wang or a qualifier in her opening match.