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Coco Gauff will benefit from the off-season more than any other WTA player on the tour

Photo by Linnea Rheborg/Getty Images for WTA
Photo by Linnea Rheborg/Getty Images for WTA
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Coco Gauff’s 2025 season had its ups and downs, but overall, the American can call her year a success.

Gauff‘s campaign saw a number of triumphs, none greater than her Roland Garros victory, in which she added a second Grand Slam to her tally.

The world number three also clinched her third WTA 1000 crown, emerging victorious at the Wuhan Open during the Asian swing.

Coco Gauff of the United States poses with the champions trophy after defeating Jessica Pegula of the United States in the singles final on Day 9 of the Wuhan Open at Optics Valley International Tennis Center.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images

There were, however, also a number of disappointing results for Gauff this season, particularly her first-round exit at Wimbledon.

Following a short-lived run at the WTA Finals, she is now enjoying her off-season, which she might just benefit from more than any other player on the tour.

Coco Gauff’s much-needed offseason before her 2026 campaign

Ahead of the US Open, the 21-year-old made an incredibly brave decision that nobody was expecting.

Gauff parted ways with Matthew Daly after just over a year of working with him and appointed biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan.

Coco Gauff 2025 Season Quiz

MacMillan, who had previously worked with Aryna Sabalenka, was hired at a time when Gauff had been struggling a lot with her serve.

The US star had tallied an unsustainable amount of double faults throughout the season, and the switch-up in her team was a much-needed one.

While Gauff did enjoy an impressive Asian swing under the wing of MacMillan, there was not exactly a big improvement with the new service motion he had implemented into her game.

MacMillan’s success with Sabalenka cannot be denied, and the lack of development in Gauff’s serve likely has nothing to do with an underperformance on his part, but rather just the fact that he has not had enough time to hone in on the issue.

Coco Gauff during her match against Aryna Sabalenka at the 2025 WTA Finals in Riyadh.
Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

As many stars have pointed out in the past, the tennis schedule is extremely crammed, and for top players like Gauff, there is actually not much time to train and work on their game.

Most of their time is spent playing matches, recovering during a day off between matches, or travelling.

This may not be a problem for most, but in Gauff’s case, trying to completely change the mechanics of the most important shot of the game amid a packed schedule is not exactly feasible.

Now, Gauff has the offseason to finally spend enough time with MacMillan in training to get valuable reps in with the new motion, which could benefit her greatly heading into her 2026 campaign.

Gavin MacMillan and Coco Gauff in conversation during practice ahead of the 2025 US Open
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images

Coco Gauff’s serving statistics during the 2025 WTA season

In total, this year, Gauff recorded 431 double faults, the most she has ever tallied in a single WTA season.

YearDouble Faults
2025431
2024430
2023219
2022260
2021256
2020149
201976
Coco Gauff’s season-tallies of double faults since 2019

Gauff only fired 188 aces, her lowest total since 2020, while only putting up a first serve percentage of 61.5%.

She won 63.9% of first serve points and just 43.2% of points on her second serve across 671 service games.

The rest of her game is far from perfect, but if MacMillan and Gauff can sort out her serving woes together, the young star can have an incredibly successful future ahead of her.