For much of last season, Coco Gauff’s biggest challenge was her serve, particularly the double faults that kept creeping into her game. It became such a concern that she brought in biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan to help refine her service motion.

The hard work began to pay off late last year. In Wuhan, during her match against Moyuka Uchijima, Gauff served with impressive control, firing five aces, landing nearly 84.8 percent of her first serves. And perhaps most importantly, not committing a single double fault. Now, seven months later, she has managed that same clean serving performance once again in Madrid.

Moreover, Gauff has always been pretty comfortable on clay, and she showed that again with her win over Leolia Jeanjean at Arantxa Sanchez Stadium. But even after a solid performance, she knows there are still a few parts of her game she’d like to clean up.

“Well, first of all, did you see how many times I fell today? I’m always leaving this clay swing with new scars on my body. That’s the first thing. My socks, shoes, and everything get dirty. I like it for my game, but it’s the little, small icks that kind of get on my nerves. Clay treats me well, just a few icks I need to get over,” she said during her post-match interview.

Moreover, Madrid’s high altitude (approximately 650-670 meters) also poses a big challenge for the players. The city stands at a higher elevation than most other European capitals, which can affect players’ condition on the court, as some may find it difficult to breathe when exhausted during a match.

However, the 2x Grand Slam champion feels that she has adapted well to Madrid’s altitude in recent years and has now become used to it.

“Well, at first, when I played this tournament, I couldn’t get past the Round of 16, so I would say it hurt. But last year I made it to the final. I think I’ve learned to play with the altitude, so I think it is helping. It helped a lot with my serve today. So yeah, I think it helps and enhances for sure. But I prefer playing closer to sea level,” she added.

The 22-year-old gave a remarkable performance against Jeanjean in the Spanish capital. After looking shaky in the first set at times, she completely took the game away from her opponent in the second set.

On the other hand, she didn’t let the 30-year-old settle and repeatedly broke her serve. The American converted seven of her 16 break points during the match and wrapped things up in 82 minutes. Now, that’s quite a show, given that she had delivered some momentous performances in Madrid last year as well.

After defeating Dayana Yastremska, Ann Li, Belinda Bencic, Mirra Andreeva, and Iga Swiatek, she finally reached the Madrid Open final, where she faced Aryna Sabalenka. However, Gauff fell short against the Belarusian, 3–6, 6–7. Sure, the first set was difficult, but the American did everything she could in the second to narrow the gap; it just wasn’t enough against Sabalenka.

Then, in 2024, she had a relatively short run in Spain, reaching only the Round of 16, where she lost to Madison Keys (6–7, 6–4, 4–6). A year earlier, she exited in the Round of 32 after losing to Paula Badosa (3–6, 0–6). Her 2022 campaign also ended in the Round of 16, where she lost to Simona Halep.

This year, however, Gauff didn’t look in the best condition during the first set and was forced to take a medical timeout at 4–3.

Coco Gauff suffers an injury scare at the Madrid Open

The 22-year-old appeared to have suffered a blister on her thumb during the match and had to call in the physio to inspect. Though it didn’t look to be anything serious, the cut could have seriously affected Gauff’s game.

But the American shrugged off the minor setback and continued to play in her rhythm. She wouldn’t allow Jeanjean to win another game and would go on to win the next eight consecutively.

Gauff has had injury problems this year and had to retire from the Round of 32 match against Alexandra Eala at the Indian Wells Masters. She had injured her left arm during the match but didn’t miss any tournaments due to the setback and was back in action at the Miami Open.

With the Madrid Open still going on, and the Rome Masters and French Open on the horizon, Gauff will be hoping not to get injured at such an important part of the tour.

The 22-year-old will be taking on Sorana Cirstea in the Round of 32 at the Madrid Open. She currently leads the H2H record by 2-0 and will be aiming to win her third consecutive match over the Romanian as the two meet in the Spanish capital.