World No. 3, Coco Gauff has taken the tennis world by storm. With her charming off-court persona and endearing fighting spirit on the court, she has swiftly become the crowd favorite. But at the same time, no amount of charm and public appeal can make one climb the WTA ranks. Gauff’s problematic second serve is being taken more and more into account lately, something Gauff herself admits is troublesome.

Her double faults have cost her most of her points and sometimes even matches. German former tennis pro, Andrea Petkovic just featured on a podcast to discuss the young American’s ‘woeful’ second serve, which she says is a bad habit even the tennis legend Venus Williams had.

‘She is never going to quit’ – Andrea Petkovic on Coco Gauff

In the latest episode of the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Petkovic compared Gauff’s bad second serve to that of Williams. She says, “Her second serve, it’s so unreliable, you know, and she’s dropping the left side of her body down…it’s very similar to when Venus missed her serve, you know, that whole left side of her arm drops down and the ball goes into the net, her grip is all messed up.”

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But at the same time, Petkovic doesn’t forget to laud Gauff’s mental strength, which she used to ease into her criticism of Gauff’s serve. “Her second service is effing woeful at the moment. I mean, she is double-faulting up a storm and I mean, listen, I could not love a kid more than this kid. I mean, she is such a fighter. The professional, such a great competitor, it’s unreal.”

“Even when she is playing her c minus game, she’s never going to quit this kid. And she won matches in this tournament that she probably shouldn’t have. And only because she has such a fighting spirit,” she adds

Gauff’s second serve has been a problem for a long time with many coaches all over the world breaking it down and giving their opinions about it. Certain players also confirmed that she has been working on it, but her serving woes have nevertheless cost her.

The price Coco Gauff had to pay for her double faults

Last year in November in Cancun, Mexico, Gauff battled through 17 double-faults and staged a remarkable comeback after nearly facing elimination at the WTA Finals. She clinched a hard-fought 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3 triumph over Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in a round-robin encounter, preserving her chances for a spot in the semifinals.

However earlier this year in January, at the Australian Open Gauff succumbed to her double faults when 8 of them cost her the semi-final against a disciplined Aryna Sabalenka. To put this into perspective, leading up to the semifinal, Coco Gauff had already tallied 18 double faults throughout the tournament.

Gauff served up 17 double faults but ultimately triumphed over China’s Yuan Yue with a score of 6-4, 6-3 at Indian Wells on Thursday, securing her spot in the semi-finals against Maria Sakkari, in the Californian desert for the first time. Gauff seems to struggle with a high double fault count in crucial matches, indicating that she may succumb to pressure in such situations.

The American sensation is all set to face compatriot Jessica Pegula at the Miami Open round of 32. Fans hope the crowd’s favorite applies her much-talked-about mental strength to cruise into the round of 16!

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