What Coco Gauff has refound in her tennis which was ‘missing’ earlier this year has been identified

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Coco Gauff has had a very tumultuous 2025 season, but she now appears to be coming out on the other side.

Gauff won her second Grand Slam at the French Open earlier this year, but she has faced many struggles since then.

A lot of these concerns have been related to Gauff’s serve, which continues to be a work in progress.

However, after Gauff won the Wuhan Open, it has been pointed out that something else appears to have returned that she seemed to be struggling with earlier this year.

Laura Robson identifies key area that was missing from Coco Gauff’s tennis

In reaction to her struggles on serve, Gauff parted ways with coach Matt Daly and brought in biomechanical expert Gavin MacMillan, who had previously worked with world number one Aryna Sabalenka.

When speaking about why she believes Gauff is going to win the WTA Finals this year, former Wimbledon junior champion Laura Robson spoke about the impact she thinks MacMillan has had.

Robson also explained how much happier she thinks Gauff is looking on court now, something she has suggested was missing earlier this year.

“I think it’s the back end of the season that’s made the biggest difference for me, you know we’ve just seen the highlights of the match against [Jasmine] Paolini in Rome, which was a really tough match if you’re a Coco Gauff fan,” Robson said live on Sky Sports. “There was so many technical issues going on, there was so many struggles with the serve and the forehand.

“That was an ongoing situation until New York, when she brought in Aryna Sabalenka’s old technical coach to try and make a difference mid-season and clearly, mentally more than anything, that’s changed something for her.

“She’s gone out to the tournaments in Asia, played really, really well and is actually enjoying it again which I think she has been missing sometimes this year, it’s just looked a bit of a struggle.

“And this is kind of what we saw here last year, that when it gets tough and you think maybe it’s time to shut down and end the season earlier, and work on all of these technical aspects away from prying eyes, that’s when she seems to play her best tennis and comes up with the goods time and time again. Yeah, that’s why I think towards the end of the season when everyone is tired that’s when you see the best in Coco Gauff.”

How has Coco Gauff’s form changed since hiring Gavin MacMillan?

Gauff and MacMillan have been working together since the US Open, and the improvement in her results has been clear to see.

The results were far from bad with Daly this year, with Gauff winning 74.5% of her matches under his guidance, but they have since risen to 85.7% with MacMillan.

Gauff and MacMillan have had just three tournaments together and have already won one title, whereas she won just the one with Daly in their 12 in 2025.

This is a similar impact to the one that Daly had when taking over from Brad Gilbert last year, which saw Gauff winning the WTA Finals.

Gauff will look to become the first woman to defend the WTA Finals since Serena Williams at the year-end tournament in Riyadh this year.

The two-time Grand Slam champion will begin her campaign against compatriot Jessica Pegula, who Gauff actually beat in the final of the Wuhan Open.