At the Italian Open on Monday, Coco Gauff fought through yet another challenging day of serving; despite her 11 double faults, she was able to overcome Paula Badosa and go to the quarterfinals.
Even though the American has served 35 double faults in just three matches, she feels that the effort she has been making off the court to correct it is starting to pay off, even if it isn’t visible to observers.
Gauff expressed her thoughts about it and said: “I’ve been working on it. I think today, even though the double faults were there, it was still a better performance than it was last night. I think for me, the focus will be getting more first serves in. I think my first-serve percentage was low, but my win percentage was in the high 70s or something like that. I think once I can get that down.”
Gauff claimed that she was considering her service in a broader context and that she was optimistic that her efforts would eventually pay off.
She added: “I’m going big on the first serve, so I know I’m probably going to miss more. I think it’s just finding the balance of going big and knowing when to slow down the pace just to get the serve in. Honestly, I mean, I bet on myself to continue to go big. I know when I go big and my serve goes in, it’s dangerous. Even though this tournament I want to win, I’m trying to think long-term. I don’t want to lose the 120 serve by not going for it.”
I told you guys that Coco was working on improving her serve and she's willing to struggle before it gets better.
Coco Gauff confirms changing technique amid serving woes in Rome https://t.co/d6PQeNkTz6
— Merlisa (@merlisa) May 13, 2024
Gauff in Rome, ranking, and results in 2024
LWWWLWWLWW Now the world no.3 (career-high), Gauff has a 24-7 match record in 2024. Coco is participating in Rome where she toppled the world no.55 Magdalena Frech 6-3 6-3, the world no.68 Jaqueline Cristian 6-1 0-6 6-3 and the world no.126 Paula Badosa Gibert 5-7 6-4 6-1.
Coco Gauff will play the world no.7 Qinwen Zheng in the quarter on Tuesday at 8:30 pm on CENTER COURT. They have never played each other so far in top competitions.
The American conquered 1 title in 2024 in Auckland.
The American won 7 titles in her career: 5 on hard courts, 1 on clay courts and 1 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
Coco Gauff |
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