Former US Open champion Coco Gauff is raising eyebrows. While there was much anticipation about her performance at the American Slam, Gauff disappointed all with a mistake that had come under the radar before. As Andy Roddick decodes her US Open performance, he raises concern among the fraternity: Can Gauff improve her form, or would it lead to her ultimate downfall in tennis?

Roddick raised a concern about Gauff’s shortcomings. He thinks the former US Open champion’s issues with serve have been so ardent that even her opponents understand it pretty easily. In a recent episode with Served with Andy Roddick, this veteran talked with Kim Clijsters, where he laid bare Gauff’s problems in her playstyle. “The serve is an issue. Like, it’s just, it’s tough, you know, she, I think she had 10 or 11 double faults in the third set against, you know, Emma,” he said.

Roddick referred to Gauff’s match against Emma Navarro at the 2024 US Open. In this fourth-round match the WTA no 6 made 19 double faults with 60 unforced errors. Among the 19 double faults, 11 were from the decisive set! While her surprising performance made it impossible to win against Navarro, the fraternity was disappointed with Gauff’s poor performance.

Roddick concluded by saying, “that’s no matter how good you are, and no matter how elite you are at other parts of the game. It’s, it’s tough to get around that, right?” Apart from Roddick, ABC Network’s Chris Evert dropped a disappointing feeling through her comment about Gauff’s double-fault errors. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her play that poorly in a match.”

After losing against Navarro with a lackluster performance, Gauff believed “it’s also just kind of a mental hurdle,” that she has “to get over when it comes with that.” She also opened up about hiring a mental coach like Aryna Sabalenka did. Despite his criticism, Roddick didn’t fully ignore Gauff’s mental health issues. He believed it was somehow connected to the WTA star’s errors with serve.

Andy Roddick believed Coco Gauff’s mental health might be the reason for her downfall

During Gauff’s Rome Open run this season, Roddick spoke about her issues with serve. He mentioned how the WTA star’s second serve required improvement while her first serve got better in Rome. However, the veteran player believed that the root cause behind Gauff’s playstyle problems lies in her mental health.

“I think she is battling a bit of a mental issue on the serve. You can do it [how you want to] in practice, but doing it under the lights is a different deal,” he said in his podcast. Referring to her 25 double faults in Cancun, Roddick highlighted how mental health influenced Gauff’s performance before.

Despite criticisms, Roddick didn’t lose hope in the WTA star. “the ability for her to get through the tournaments and beat top players even if obviously struggling with something is phenomenal,” he said about Gauff.

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Andy Roddick’s revelations about Coco Gauff bring concern among her supporters. The WTA star needs to work on this recurring issue of double faults and return to her old form. Till then, the fraternity hopes Gauff will take a prominent measure against this and pay attention to her mental health.