Coco Gauff‘s on-court woes are not ceasing anytime soon. The former World No.2, who won her second slam two months ago at the Roland Garros, has struggled to replicate that form lately. In fact, the 21-year-old’s performance has only gone downhill in recent campaigns. Be it Berlin or Wimbledon where she was ousted in the first round. Or the Montreal setback against 18-year-old Victoria Mboko before Italy’s Jasmine Paolini edged her out in Cincinnati. But if that wasn’t enough, Gauff’s unexpected US Open return this season may bother her going forward.

Ahead of her singles journey in New York, Gauff opted to try her luck in mixed doubles. To be precise, she joined former ATP icon Andre Agassi for this year’s edition of Stars of the Open exhibition experience. Playing against 7-time slam winner John McEnroe and 45-year-old comeback queen Venus Williams, Gauff and Agassi began on a positive note. Initially, they were leading the 10-point tiebreak battle. However, it seems Gauff’s fortunes were misaligned. McEnroe and Williams’ solid returns and attacking shots eventually bested the 21-year-old star and 55-year-old ATP veteran. Result? McEnroe-Williams won the tiebreak and the match with a final scoreline of 12-10.

While this exhibition match won’t matter much to Gauff, the loss may affect her mentally given the fact she’s found it tough to win in recent months. Mostly, it’s been due to her on-court issues regarding inconsistent strokes. As a result, the World No.3 has ended up committing endless double faults because of her inaccurate serves.

In several events this season, Gauff’s double fault count became alarming. For example in Indian Wells, she committed 38 double faults. At the Italian Open, the figure then increased to 42. Although the problem got sidelined, briefly, due to her historic French Open victory, it resurfaced sooner than later.

After her first round Wimbledon exit, Gauff appeared at the Canadian Open where the American committed 23 double faults in a single match. In just three encounters of that tournament, the count reached to 43. But now it seems Gauff’s understood what she needs to do in order to fix the longstanding problem. Ahead of the US Open campaign, the 21-year-old has made a big change to her team.

Coco Gauff appoints Aryna Sabalenka’s former coach to solve serving woes

For the uninitiated, Coco Gauff added a new trainer, Matt Daly, in late 2024 to improve her service motion. He joined her longtime coach Jean-Christophe Faurel. Before adding Daly, Gauff parted ways with former coach Brad Gilbert who accompanied her during the 2023 US Open winning campaign.

However, it seems even Daly couldn’t really contribute to fix Gauff’s serving woes. Hence, the WTA icon has recently partnered with biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan. Previously, he worked with World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and improved her broken serve eventually.

Earlier this week, MacMillan was spotted with Gauff courtside in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Reacting to this partnership, World No.1 Jannik Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill (currently on a role with ESPN) commented, “A lot of things add up and this could be a really good relationship,”

Per Cahill, this collaboration may turn out to be fruitful for Gauff at the US Open. “He’s very thorough … I’ve spoken to him many, many times before and the fact that he’s got experience with different athletes from different sports, both male and female, he uses the new technology, he goes to the video a lot, really breaks down the biomechanics.”

What’s your take on the American WTA star’s coaching change going into the season’s last major? Will she finally be able to make a strong comeback at the Flushing Meadows? Let us know in the comments below.

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