Coco Gauff has had a rollercoaster year.
The American star won both the Auckland Open in January and China Open earlier this month – the latter being her eighth career title – but struggled on the Grand Slam stage.
Gauff double faulted 21 times against Aryna Sabalenka at the Wuhan Open over the weekendGetty
Rick Macci has a solution to Coco Gauff’s double fault problems@RickMacci
She was knocked out in the fourth round of the US Open and Wimbledon, and crashed out at the semi-final stage of the Australian and French Open.
Gauff was also knocked out in the third round at the Olympics and most recently, her attempt to win back-to-back titles on the Far East hard court swing came up short.
The World No. 3 lost in the semifinals of the Wuhan Open to Aryna Sabalenka and it was in that defeat that a major problem in her game was on full show.
Gauff made an astonishing 21 double faults as she was beaten 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.
That is a career high for the 20-year-old, and is the most from any WTA player in a main draw match this year.
She made the 21st double fault while she was match point down, handing her opponent the win.
The amount of double faults are undoubtedly a worrying issue and one that Gauff’s new coach, Matt Daly, will have to iron out quickly.
But according to legendary tennis coach Rick Macci, her major flaw can be fixed in just one hour.
Macci, who trained Serena Williams and her sister, Venus, as children, believes Gauff’s serve is “bio-mechanically disconnected”.
“Asked about Coco and her serve. Biomechanically it is disconnected. 19 double faults and be in there shows her greatness. It needs minor reconstruction surgery based on scientific principles as it is an easy fix,” he wrote on X in September, soon after Gauff’s US Open defeat.
Gauff was eliminated in the fourth round of the US Open this yearGetty
In that match, she gave up 19 double faults and just over a month later, after the issue resurfaced in her Wuhan Open defeat, Macci returned with a fix.
“Coco and her second serve can be fixed in less than one hour. Once that is biomechanically rewired and that is in the EYE of the BEHOLDER the mental game overall becomes BOLDER,” he said.
Gauff, and her new coach, would be smart to listen to Macci.
As well as coaching the Williams sisters, he also worked with three other number one ranked players in Andy Roddick, Jennifer Capriati and Maria Sharapova.
If Gauff can fix her double fault issue, she will have the chance to end a tough year with glory at the WTA Finals.
The American has never won the season-ending championship – and this weekend drew laughter from reporters after she discovered she had qualified for the tournament in Riyadh before it was officially announced.
“If you look it up online, there’s a checkmark by my name,” she told journalists.
“They told me not to say anything. Sorry. But it’s by my name.”
Gauff is won of seven players to have confirmed their place in the field alongside Sabalenka, World No 1 Iga Swiatek, Jasmine Paolini, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng.
Just one place remains up for grabs, with American duo Emma Navarro and Danielle Collins in eighth and ninth place on the Race with just a handful of tournaments remaining.
