Coco Gauff is the last top player caught in a struggle with her serve. Why does this shot keep acting up? I asked several tennis experts who have worked with some of the biggest names in the game.
Yes, the serve can be a real nightmare to fix...because the margins are the lowest for the serve since you have to hit the tennis ball with the serve into a much smaller space of area compared to regular groundstrokes which has the whole area of the tennis court to hit into so thus any slight error in the serve results in a fault.
I think coco gauff should get serena williams to help her serve out rather than andy roddick because serena williams as a woman can probably better relate to coco gauff than andy roddick when it comes to coco gauff's specific serve motion.
I feel Coco should follow in the steps what Sabalenka did a few years ago and hire a Bio Mechanic Specialist to help with her serve, it helped Aryna get rid of her double faults and also helped her with her fhand
Coco has tried changing grips, which started to work, but now it is not working, her double faults have increased and her her UFE, on her fhand have increased. Coco level of play has gone backwards after the AO sad to say,
I believe it is more of a kinesthetic "feel" issue than a biomechanical issue with coco gauff's serve which is the toughest to fix because a person's innate kinesthetic "feel" is purely instinctual and determined largely by innate genetics.
With any shot in tennis to me it all comes down to the 'technique' you learnt as a junior, the ball toss is in a serve is one of the most important things you learn, before your serve, Serena Williams had the best toss I have seen in the WTA,
I dont like the grip that Coco has on her fhand it is way too severe when Daly came in I thought to myself Yes he will change that grip,another point with Coco she appears late on her fhand wing, and slaps at the ball, she is one of the best movers on tour, she should not be having that kind of trouble
At this point in time with Coco hiring a Bio Mechanic Specialist would be more positive, lets face it at the moment she needs help ASAP
Well working with a biomechanics professional would not hurt coco gauff at all but at the end of the day, tennis is all about timing and coordination which is really an innate skill like how good your memory is so I do not believe that further continually changing techniques would help coco gauff if the kinesthetic timing and "feel" is not there in the first place.
You can get away with bad biomechanical techniques in tennis as long as your kinesthetic timing and coordination is supreme, but you cannot ever succeed in tennis with good biomechanical technique but with a lack of kinesthetic timing and coordination.
I fully agree. I wonder if they tried to get Aryna's guy, but maybe he has an exclusive contract now with her. But there are other names she could go to. I want to believe they've already done it or that it's the next step. She had such a natural serve when she landed on the Tour; it's maybe gone one tweak too many, and here you go.
Great article! I’ve wondered, for the past couple of years, why Coco doesn’t shut down her season following the US Open. Then use Sep-Dec to make the changes. She will lose ranking points and might be fined by the tour, but she can afford it.
Thank you! Yeah, I guess that may have been an option, but I don't think she could have done it last year with the WTA Finals moving in Saudi for the first time and how there might have been Tour and business pressure to get the top players there. Also she won... But they surely thought taking September off would be enough, and it nearly was. It's just that either 1) a much longer break is indeed needed 2) that change isn't sticking to her game's DNA, and what can u do? 3) She needed a change, but that's not the one they did. Such a tricky situation because it worked for a while... And now she's going to have to figure it out on the way until, like you said, after the next USO. I wanna think that if all comes to worst and she's still struggling by this time, then she'll shut it down for at least Sept and the Asian swing. It's just tough to skip the WTA Finals if you qualify, including because of the sponsors.
Yes, the serve can be a real nightmare to fix...because the margins are the lowest for the serve since you have to hit the tennis ball with the serve into a much smaller space of area compared to regular groundstrokes which has the whole area of the tennis court to hit into so thus any slight error in the serve results in a fault.
I think coco gauff should get serena williams to help her serve out rather than andy roddick because serena williams as a woman can probably better relate to coco gauff than andy roddick when it comes to coco gauff's specific serve motion.
I feel Coco should follow in the steps what Sabalenka did a few years ago and hire a Bio Mechanic Specialist to help with her serve, it helped Aryna get rid of her double faults and also helped her with her fhand
Coco has tried changing grips, which started to work, but now it is not working, her double faults have increased and her her UFE, on her fhand have increased. Coco level of play has gone backwards after the AO sad to say,
I believe it is more of a kinesthetic "feel" issue than a biomechanical issue with coco gauff's serve which is the toughest to fix because a person's innate kinesthetic "feel" is purely instinctual and determined largely by innate genetics.
With any shot in tennis to me it all comes down to the 'technique' you learnt as a junior, the ball toss is in a serve is one of the most important things you learn, before your serve, Serena Williams had the best toss I have seen in the WTA,
I dont like the grip that Coco has on her fhand it is way too severe when Daly came in I thought to myself Yes he will change that grip,another point with Coco she appears late on her fhand wing, and slaps at the ball, she is one of the best movers on tour, she should not be having that kind of trouble
At this point in time with Coco hiring a Bio Mechanic Specialist would be more positive, lets face it at the moment she needs help ASAP
Serena's toss was perfection. The whole motion so simple and so efficient.
Well working with a biomechanics professional would not hurt coco gauff at all but at the end of the day, tennis is all about timing and coordination which is really an innate skill like how good your memory is so I do not believe that further continually changing techniques would help coco gauff if the kinesthetic timing and "feel" is not there in the first place.
You can get away with bad biomechanical techniques in tennis as long as your kinesthetic timing and coordination is supreme, but you cannot ever succeed in tennis with good biomechanical technique but with a lack of kinesthetic timing and coordination.
I fully agree. I wonder if they tried to get Aryna's guy, but maybe he has an exclusive contract now with her. But there are other names she could go to. I want to believe they've already done it or that it's the next step. She had such a natural serve when she landed on the Tour; it's maybe gone one tweak too many, and here you go.
I believe Aryna still works from time to time with Bio Mechanic, he was in her box at last year's USO, which I think is a good thing.
Yes, I think he's kind of part of the team now so if I get a chance to find out, I'll def ask. That man saved her career.
Great article! I’ve wondered, for the past couple of years, why Coco doesn’t shut down her season following the US Open. Then use Sep-Dec to make the changes. She will lose ranking points and might be fined by the tour, but she can afford it.
Thank you! Yeah, I guess that may have been an option, but I don't think she could have done it last year with the WTA Finals moving in Saudi for the first time and how there might have been Tour and business pressure to get the top players there. Also she won... But they surely thought taking September off would be enough, and it nearly was. It's just that either 1) a much longer break is indeed needed 2) that change isn't sticking to her game's DNA, and what can u do? 3) She needed a change, but that's not the one they did. Such a tricky situation because it worked for a while... And now she's going to have to figure it out on the way until, like you said, after the next USO. I wanna think that if all comes to worst and she's still struggling by this time, then she'll shut it down for at least Sept and the Asian swing. It's just tough to skip the WTA Finals if you qualify, including because of the sponsors.