The crowd simply could not stop cheering for Coco Gauff as she demonstrated commendable prowess and defeated Ajla Tomljanovic with a scoreline of 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5. The duo battled for 2 hours and 57 minutes, and the #3 seed passed through to the second round. But all of that came with a sense of improvement. Gauff’s game was much cleaner, and her broken serves were no longer too broken. In the end, as she proceeds to the battle against Donna Vekic tomorrow, Gauff’s biggest cheerleader, her mom, had a special message for her. 

Candi Gauff took to Instagram and shared a post from the US Open through her Stories. And in the caption, she wrote, “[Coco Gauff] great fight! ♥️” The picture in the story showed the 21-year-old celebrating her hard-fought win at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Soon after, the #3 WTA contender’s younger brother, Codey Gauff, also praised her for the big win. He shared the same IG post on his story and dropped three fire emojis to express himself. 

It’s worth noting that Gauff managed to significantly reduce her double faults in this match. In her last match at the Cincinnati Open, the 21-year-old star made 16 double faults. This time, it came down to just 10. And unforced errors? The numbers touched 59. Also, she broke six serves in the match against Tomljanovic. 

And this improvement was the result of Gauff’s intensive training under the guidance of Gavin MacMillan, the same coach who treated Aryna Sabalenka’s broken serve. Gauff teamed up with the biomechanics expert just days before the first round of the 2025 US Open. Despite the shortage of time, her improvements were clearly visible.

And whenever Gauff messed up, Candi Gauff and MacMillan showed visible tension from their seats behind the athlete’s box. The looks on their faces when Gauff made two double faults and forehand errors in the third round were truly noticeable. But all that stress ended with a sigh of relief when the #3 star secured the win.

But how did she feel during her training? What did her routine in the past 5-6 days look like? Let’s find out!

Coco Gauff gets honest about her training regimen after winning the first round of the US Open

After defeating Tomljanovic, Gauff, during the on-court interview, revealed that the practice sessions took a heavy toll on her. It was both physically and mentally taxing. But in the end, it was all worth it. So, how exactly did her practice session look? During the post-match press conference, Coco Gauff said, “When I said that I was referring more to the practice week, not the match. I mean, the match was, it is what it was. I’m so used to these long battles. But yeah, the practice week, it was tough, because I was spending a lot of time on court, literally serving until like my shoulder was hurting. Yeah, it’s just tough.” 

It was indeed a step in the right direction. And the third set made her realize her standing in the game. She confessed that she didn’t want to waste any time in making herself better at serving. That’s why she hired MacMillan just before the US Open, making others miss out on the chance of getting him on their team. All that made her hope for a better stance at next year’s championship. She said, “I think, hopefully, this time next year I’ll be serving much better.”  

What do you think of Coco Gauff’s recent performance? Let us know in the comments below. And in the meantime, head to our EssentiallySports Live Blog for minute-by-minute updates from Flushing Meadows.