Remember the 2019 Wimbledon qualifiers? 15-year-old Coco Gauff, handing a stunning upset to the five-time champion Venus Williams, announced her name on one of the biggest stages of the tennis world. However, her run ended in round 4 against Simona Halep in double 3-6 sets. History repeated itself in 2021 and 2024, where the world no. 2 reached the fourth round, only to be defeated again. Seemingly, more than the pressure of playing at Wimbledon, it seems to be the factor of the surface. The slick, low bouncing, fast grass has been defying Gauff at times despite an overall 24-11 record here, per Tennis Tonic. The latest betrayal came right after her second major title win at Roland Garros when she failed to transform from clay to grass in Berlin.

Seeded second, Coco Gauff received a bye for the first round. In the second, she went against Wang Xinyu, falling 6-3, 6-3 in straight sets. After the short trip to Berlin, all Gauff could say was “tried my best to adjust with the quick turnaround but it wasn’t enough. as always, i’m learning as I go so I hope to do better next time.” Fortunately, she does have an opportunity to prove her worth on the grass surface as “i’m excited to get some more practices in to be ready for wimbledon.” Only, that the path she is set on isn’t exactly in her favor. 

The All England Lawn Tennis Club fetched draws for the 138th iteration of the event ahead of the tournament. And as Andy Roddick puts it, “Coco has a brutal draw.” Let’s look at her side of the draw:

• Matchup-1: S. Kenin (28 seed) vs T. Townsend (Q)
• Matchup-2: J. Bouzas Maneiro vs E. Seidel (Q)
• Matchup-3: V. Azarenka vs A. Zakharova (Q)
• Matchup-4: D. Yastremska vs Coco Gauff

Going by Coco Gauff’s tough draw at Wimbledon, she will face Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in the first round. Even in the following rounds, there’s some tough competition waiting for the American. There is also a chance of Coco Gauff facing Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals and final, respectively. Looking at this draw, Andy Roddick made a very interesting comment in the recent episode of the ‘Served‘ podcast.

“Coco has a brutal draw, just so we’re clear. Coco has a nightmare of a draw. Yastremska can play on grass. She just made the finals of a tournament last week (takes a deep breath).” Jon Wertheim added, “Remember Kenin beat Coco two years ago in the first round? Coco’s gonna be okay… I have Coco beat Samsonova (from the top section).

Further analyzing Gauff’s path to title triumph at Wimbledon, he showcased a bit of concern and added, “Oh, no..this is a hard one ’cause I’m like I find myself my mind’s telling me something different than my heart is telling me. I don’t think Coco makes it to the fourth round… No… I’m flirting with this upset on Yastremska in the first round.” Quite interesting, isn’t it?

He further analyzed how it’s different to deliver on both clay and grass and said, “I think grass is different and it’s weird that we judge the people against their own shadows. How much stock do you put in what she did which was amazing over the clay court season versus grass. Clay is that benefits her. It slows it down, more time on the forehand side. Grass is gonna be her most challenging surface. It just is, the playbook hasn’t changed because she won Roland Garros. She was able to manage the playbook against her going through with speed on that forehand side; her legs are more of a weapon.

“On the clay, she slides great, the spin profile, the forehand is better on clay. I don’t know. She hasn’t won here hardly at all. She’s never had a good result. Her best result may be when she was 15 in the breakthrough and she beat Venus. She’s not played well on grass, at all. And the forehand, it doesn’t know favorites. And Yastremska just coming off of a big win.”

While the love and respect for the 21-year-old remains in Roddick’s heart, he believes grass is a tough surface for Gauff. Nevertheless, he’d be more than happy if his predictions about Gauff and Yastremska go wrong.

Yastremska is currently ranked 42nd in the world and has an H2H record of 0-3 against the American. Although she hasn’t won a title this year, the Ukrainian did reach the final at the Linz Open before making two impressive runs on grass recently (Nottingham Open- final, Eastbourne Open-QF). If Gauff does win this match, she may face the former world number one, Victoria Azarenka, in the second round, followed by a potential clash with Sofia Kenin in the third round. Overcoming these challenges in the first three rounds would then ensure a possible meeting with Daria Kasatkina in the fourth round before crossing paths with the five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in the QF. 

If not Coco Gauff, then who’s his pick at the 2025 Wimbledon? Just a few weeks ago, Andy Roddick named Aryna Sabalenka as the “clear-cut favorite” in this tournament. Although Sabalenka has lost two major finals already this season, it’s quite interesting to see tennis experts going for her at the grass-court major. But what do other tennis bigwigs have to say about Coco Gauff’s chances at Wimbledon?

Coco Gauff is the “second favorite” at the 2025 Wimbledon

Despite having a stellar run at Roland Garros, Coco Gauff faced a disappointing start to her grass-court swing in Berlin. She went down to China’s Xinyu Wang by 3-6, 3-6 in the first round. But despite that shocking defeat, former pro CoCo Vandeweghe claimed this defeat could turn out to be positive for the world number two ahead of Wimbledon. She believes Gauff will now be more motivated to bounce back strongly on what some of the experts claim as her least favorite surface.

Talking about her chances at Wimbledon, Laura Robson said, “I don’t know who is favorite in the women’s Wimbledon event. I would probably say Sabalenka because she’s done well there in the past but for Coco, it’s been a surface which hasn’t quite given her the results that the other Slams have.” 

Although Tim Henman said that he would love to see Coco Gauff win Wimbledon, other tennis experts like Todd Woodbridge claim that it would be more difficult for Gauff to win back-to-back major titles. According to Mats Wilander, Gauff will definitely be among the two of the favorites in this tournament, while Martina Navratilova named her as the “second favorite” at the 2025 Wimbledon after Aryna Sabalenka. Seeing this tough draw at Wimbledon, how far do you think she can reach this time?