Coco Gauff once again fell short of success in Dubai, where her serving struggles surfaced once again.
Gauff was frustrated by a double fault against Elina Svitolina, who won their semifinal encounter at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
American superstar Gauff hired biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan in September in a bid to improve that key area of her game, but it has proved a difficult venture so far.
Gauff deserves huge credit for battling through the issue, boasting 11 WTA titles at the age of just 21, despite her clear serving struggles.
She’s clearly keen to improve that area of her game, and seemingly has another route to go down given her comments in Montreal last year.
Where will Coco Gauff be ranked at the end of the 2026 season?
Coco Gauff should play more doubles to improve her serve
Gauff lost to Victoria Mboko in the round of 16 in Montreal in 2025, but managed to clinch the doubles title with McCartney Kessler.
During her time in Canada, she said of her doubles venture: “Yeah, my doubles yesterday I hit zero double faults, so it was just, like, okay. It’s definitely positive.
“I just would like to serve how I do in doubles in singles, but that was the reason to play is just to give myself pressure moments.
“You know, it’s weird. I feel more pressure serving in doubles than in singles because I don’t want to sit here and give the match away for my partner.
“So I’m trying to take that mentality into singles, but it’s not so easy. Yeah, I’m happy that I have another chance to compete and another chance to get better.”
Such a feeling suggests that Gauff should simply play doubles more often, allowing her to build confidence and really zone in on the main issues.
Ultimately, more matches give her more opportunities to work on her serve, with that high-pressure setting certain to be more beneficial than that of a training environment.
Of course, winning doubles titles brings the added boost of confidence, which would also be beneficial for her singles career.
Prove us wrong…
Coco Gauff boasts superb WTA doubles record
Gauff has already played a lot of doubles tennis in her relatively brief career so far, enjoying fantastic success.
She boasts 10 career titles, including the 2024 French Open title with doubles specialist Katerina Siniakova.
The American has also climbed all the way to number one in the doubles rankings, which is one spot higher than her career-high singles rank.
But just one match in 2026 – a Qatar Open defeat with Mboko – suggests there is a clear focus on singles success.
| Result | Year | Tournament | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 2021 | US Open | Caty McNally | Samantha Stosur Zhang Shuai | 3–6, 6–3, 3–6 |
| Loss | 2022 | French Open | Jessica Pegula | Caroline Garcia Kristina Mladenovic | 6–2, 3–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 2024 | French Open | Katerina Siniakova | Sara Errani Jasmine Paolini | 7–6(7–5), 6–3 |
More focus on the format in the coming months could really work wonders for the WTA star, who at 21 still has so much time to improve her service game.
But she should really be aiming for an improvement sooner rather than later, particularly after topping the WTA double faults pile in 2024 and 2025.
She’s already in the top five of that unwanted list for 2026, but really could limit her figure by taking on more doubles matches in the near future.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
