Death, taxes, and Coco Gauff’s serve going off the rails, it’s almost tradition at this point. The 21-year-old American kicked off her 2025 French Open campaign with a forgettable moment, quite literally. As she stepped onto the court for her first-round match, she quickly realized something was missing – her racket. After signaling to her team in the stands and laughing it off, Gauff recovered from the mix-up in style. She breezed past Australia’s Olivia Gadecki 6-2, 6-2 in just 71 minutes. But her performance in the second round leaves much to be desired. Find out what fans have to say about it!

Gauff, the 2022 Roland Garros finalist, returned to Court Suzanne Lenglen to face 18-year-old Julia Valentova. The match lasted only 75 minutes, and the scoreline read 6-2, 6-4 in Gauff’s favor. But a deeper look painted a much messier picture.

Valentova, ranked outside the Top 130 and playing her debut Grand Slam, hit 33 unforced errors, gifting the 2023 US Open champion plenty of free points. Still, it wasn’t smooth sailing for the World No. 2. Gauff was broken five times in the match. The only game she held on serve in the second set came in the fifth game, which turned out to be the most important one. That lone hold helped her close out the win, but the cracks were hard to ignore.

According to the WTA website, Gauff leads the women’s tour in double faults for 2025. Before her matches in Stuttgart, she had already racked up 121 double faults across just 18 matches. That’s more than anyone else. Ashlyn Krueger was second with 119 in 23 matches, and Marta Kostyuk followed with 118 in 18. In short, Gauff is giving away too many free points.

Her serve, once again, was the hot topic. So what are the fans saying?

Fans react to Coco Gauff’s abysmal performance at the French Open

Online, the reaction was swift and blunt.

While tennis journalist Jose Morgado praised Coco Gauff’s win on X, fans weren’t buying the hype. One fan wrote, “That was far from a strong performance. Gauff’s serve really struggled—winning just 19% of second serves and piling up double faults isn’t what you’d expect from the world No. 2. If she hadn’t been up against a junior, she likely wouldn’t have pulled out the win.”

Gauff landed 70% of her first serves and won 61% of those points, but her serve still proved shaky as she racked up six double faults, an issue that continues to haunt her. Up until April, Gauff has double-faulted on 26% of her second serves — the highest rate among the WTA top 50 by a clear margin. That number is up from 21.2% last year, showing the problem has only grown.

Another commenter highlighted her problems and wrote, “Brother what do you mean good performance she got broken 4 times in the 2nd set, tell me you didn’t watch the match just saw the scoreline.”

Coco Gauff has been working with two coaches lately: one a familiar figure, the other a fresh face in her corner. Jean-Christophe Faurel, who’s been part of her journey on and off since she was a teenager, continues to bring his long-term insight. But it’s Matt Daly, a former NCAA Division I player from the University of Notre Dame, who’s been a key figure in reshaping her game.

Daly joined the team not long after Gauff’s tough three-set loss to Emma Navarro at the U.S. Open, a match where she racked up 19 double faults. In the aftermath, Gauff was clear: she never wanted to lose like that again. More than the result, it was the way she played that bothered her. That’s when Daly stepped in to help steer the technical overhaul that the 2023 US Open champion felt was necessary.

And one especially frustrated fan didn’t hold back and wrote, “Good performance? My eyes were bleeding. She won 1 game on her serve in second set against Valentova who made her debut in Grand Slam here in Paris.”

It’s a point worth noting. If the American starlet is struggling against a player who is currently ranked No.211 and has just made her Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros, how is she supposed to go against the likes of Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka? In contrast to Gauff, who has amassed 193 double faults this season, Sabalenka has made just 67 double faults, and Iga Swiatek has made 94.

“Cake walk Jose lol! I know you can only beat the person in front of you, but come on,” one fan posted, echoing the disbelief. “She was broken 4 or 5 times by a junior player who is outside of the TOP 130,” said another.

Coco Gauff’s clash with Julia Valentova was a meeting of two generations: Gauff, the 2018 French Open junior champion, taking on the 2024 titleholder. This time, experience made the difference. She’s now won 12 of her 13 career matches against opponents younger than her, with her only loss coming against Diana Shnaider in Toronto last year. She also holds a solid 9-2 record against qualifiers at the majors.

The American also has a relatively easy draw this time. Coco Gauff’s path in Paris comes with a silver lining. She won’t face Iga Swiatek unless they both make it to the final. And as luck would have it, most of the tournament’s heavy hitters, including top seed Aryna Sabalenka, landed in the opposite half of the draw. But she will need to fix her serve even on this relatively easy road.  She will face Marie Bouzková in the third round on Saturday. Do you think Coco Gauff can fix her serving woes and add another Grand Slam trophy to her collection?