{"id":90026,"date":"2025-09-02T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=90026"},"modified":"2025-09-01T23:09:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T03:09:45","slug":"coco-gauffs-struggles-since-french-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/09\/02\/coco-gauffs-struggles-since-french-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Coco Gauff\u2019s Struggles Since French Open Triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">Just under three months ago, Coco Gauff <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/06\/07\/coco-gauff-wins-first-french-open-title\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">defeated World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> in the French Open final, edging a three-set classic that might not be remembered for its quality but will always be remembered for its drama. It was her second Major title, she rose to World No. 2, and everything felt seemingly smooth.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, however, in her next dozen matches, she has gone 7\u20135, failing to win a single match on grass and crashing out of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/us-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">US Open<\/a>, her home Slam, in the fourth round to Naomi Osaka. The results have been disappointing, but the performances have been equally concerning. She has lost confidence in her serve, coupled with her ever-present forehand issues.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Naomi Osaka vs. Coco Gauff Highlights | 2025 US Open Round 4\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Xm8dmFicK-s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So, is it finally time to panic?<\/p>\n<h4>The Pressure of Being a Prodigy<\/h4>\n<p>The gift and curse of being a prodigy, especially in the United States, is that you never leave the spotlight. While that brings opportunities earlier than most players ever get, it also means the pressure to win and maintain the high standards you\u2019ve set is relentless.<\/p>\n<p>The same is true for Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n<p>For 99% of players, Gauff\u2019s 2025 season would be a career year. She sits in the Top 3, owns a Major title, and has a win percentage of around 75%. Those numbers aren\u2019t just good, they\u2019re great. But because this is Coco Gauff, arguably the face of the women\u2019s game right now, panic buttons are being pressed and alarm bells are ringing all across the tennis world.<\/p>\n<h4>The Technical Struggles: Serve and Forehand<\/h4>\n<p>Instead of paying attention to the outside noise, Gauff\u2019s focus should be on how a 21-year-old can improve her game. Her weaknesses are clear.<\/p>\n<p>In her last 12 matches post-French Open, Gauff has averaged a staggering 9.3 double faults per match, a rate simply unsustainable against elite opponents. Double faults are not new to her game, but the concerning part is that they have steadily increased year by year.<\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"sizing-normal aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!Q4eO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e6cd56d-1665-4fe3-9850-a26c08531175_335x124.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"335\" height=\"124\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/0e6cd56d-1665-4fe3-9850-a26c08531175_335x124.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:124,&quot;width&quot;:335,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:4718,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/itzzzain10.substack.com\/i\/171946323?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e6cd56d-1665-4fe3-9850-a26c08531175_335x124.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}\" \/><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>And yet, the serve isn\u2019t even the biggest issue. The forehand, built with a long, loopy takeback and an extreme western grip, requires elite precision and ball control. That level of consistency is something Gauff has struggled to maintain. Unlike the serve, which is entirely in her control, the forehand is an active stroke that demands improvisation and depends on the opponent\u2019s shot. That makes fixing it even more challenging.<\/p>\n<h4>Perspective, Patience, and Potential<\/h4>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2232881953\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2232881953?et=yfTLqLgCTOx7q_ZJNfdlsw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=D-E2dbQt-4W3LwzV5he6aHQPMhQGlWKLUp2u5Ry8GFU=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Like every great champion who confronts adversity, Gauff has taken action. She recently brought in biomechanics coach <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/coco-gauff-serve-us-open-2025-gavin-macmillan-e229b2e813952d390a982a7a984fe14f\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gavin MacMillan<\/a> to help address these issues. While the results haven\u2019t been immediate, this is a long-term investment that should ultimately pay off.<\/p>\n<p>Tennis moves quickly when you\u2019re winning,but feels painfully slow when the results go against you. Gauff is experiencing the latter: low on confidence, emotional on court, and at times showing negative body language. But perspective is crucial; at just 21 years old, she is already a two-time Major champion, has won on different surfaces, and is firmly established inside the Top 5.<\/p>\n<p>The most remarkable part? Gauff has achieved all of this despite glaring technical flaws. If she can minimize those weaknesses, even partially, the sky could be the limit.<\/p>\n<p>For the rest of the field, that should be a terrifying thought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just under three months ago, Coco Gauff defeated World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open final, edging a three-set classic that might not be remembered for its quality but will always be remembered for its drama. It was her second Major title, she rose to World No. 2, and everything felt seemingly smooth. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5608,"featured_media":85459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[42770,807,2747,476,43,21,15,364],"class_list":["post-90026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wta","tag-2025-us-open","tag-american-tennis","tag-coco-gauff","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-us-open","tag-wimbledon","tag-wta","tag-wta-tour"],"modified_by":"Steen Kirby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5608"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90026"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90049,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90026\/revisions\/90049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}