In tennis, we usually cheer for a player’s strengths, but sometimes it’s their flaws that make them unforgettable.

Take Coco Gauff, one of the game’s brightest young stars. But her serve and forehand are her weak points. Yet, according to Andy Roddick, these very imperfections have helped her become one of the most dangerous players on the tour.

By the end, Coco Gauff became the first American woman since Serena Williams in 2015 to lift the French Open trophy. And that’s what Roddick, along with Jon Wertheim and producer Mike Count, recently analyzed her performance. They praise how she used the conditions and her so-called weaknesses to her advantage.

“Conditions matter, right? You rarely see the greatest matches of all time when the wind is blustery… and you’re chasing it you don’t know what it. So I will…say this: it’s a testament to Coco Gauff,” Roddick explained.

He continued, “We’ve covered the serving situation, we’ve covered the forehand situation. To be dealing with two shots like that, and then to take a kind of gross day and somehow being able to manipulate this match into a street fight, a battle of wills, where it’s not just Sabalenka’s dominance on both sides and she’s done it in both of the slam finals that she’s won,…And there is still so much upside with her game.”

What makes Coco Gauff more stunning is how she has turned her weaknesses into a weapon. While most players strive for technical perfection, Gauff plays strategically.

“We always viewed as a negative, but it is amazing that what her base offering even while trying to negotiate around certain parts of her game that aren’t working twice…,” Roddick said.

Yes, she did not allow her weaknesses to make her, but rather put her adversaries in awkward positions where one can easily make the wrong decisions.

“There is a skill to making a match gross, ugly… and there is a certain beauty in its ugliness if you are a true sports fan,” Roddick said. Her lack of serve and forehand is not a weakness but something to use to control the speed of the game.

“She is so good at manipulating the energy of a match and also like we all know what we’re good at we all know what we’re not good at.”

Gauff herself sees the potential in her serve and also acknowledges that it needs improvement.

“I want my serve to be a real weapon … it is in some moments, but being a weapon more consistently is what I want.”

In brief, Coco Gauff transformed her weaknesses into a strength by employing them as a weapon. Rather than attempting to impose perfection, she outsmarts them: she dictates the time, she manipulates the rhythm of her competitors, and she lives and performs well under difficult circumstances. In essence, she uses her own shortcomings to her advantage rather than her disadvantage.  Sure, it has worked for her in that match, but is she working to make it better?

Coco Gauff is working hard to fix her biggest weakness

The problem became obvious in matches against Moyuka Uchijima at Indian Wells and Danielle Collins in Montreal, where she committed 21 and 23 double faults. It was clear her serve needed a major overhaul. To tackle this, Gauff turned to biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan, who had previously helped Aryna Sabalenka fix her serving issues. Despite the timing, right before the US Open, Coco Gauff knew it was the best move for her game.

And now, there are already signs of progress. In a WTA Finals match, she double-faulted only three times and won 75% of her second-serve points. Still, consistency is a challenge; she hit 17 double faults against Jessica Pegula in the same tournament. The work is ongoing, but the improvements show that effort and smart adjustments are paying off.

Even with severe struggles, Coco Gauff’s overall game remains strong. Her return game is one of the best on tour, winning 48.8% of return points this season and the most return games at 46.3%.

“I feel it’s better, and I’m not making as many double faults as before,” she said. Every adjustment and practice session is building her into a more complete and formidable player for the future.