Coco Gauff’s year has been nothing short of a rollercoaster, and it appears she is still navigating her way through the complexities of her game. After a difficult stretch in her career, Gauff made the bold choice to part ways with her longtime coach, Brad Gilbert, and brought Matt Daly on board as her new mentor. This change was intended to signify a fresh start, but fans witnessed that the transition has not yet fully taken hold during her quarterfinal match against Yulia Starodubtsewa at the China Open.

Playing in her first tournament under Daly’s guidance, Gauff initially showed promise but has recently struggled to maintain her momentum, particularly with her service game. Although she secured a win against Starodubtsewa, the match statistics raised eyebrows within the tennis community.

The 20-year-old American recorded an alarming 11 double faults compared to just 1 from her opponent, a significant deviation from her typical performance. Throughout the 2023 season, Gauff has accumulated a total of 315 double faults over 53 matches, averaging around 6 faults per match. However, her latest match performance is particularly concerning.

In addition to the double faults, Gauff managed to hit only two aces, markedly lower than her season average of approximately 3.50 aces per match, having recorded 186 aces this season. Overall, her service game has faced notable challenges, prompting questions about her adaptation to the new coaching dynamic. As Gauff continues to seek consistency, fans will be watching closely to see how she navigates these hurdles in the upcoming matches.

Gauff has an average of 71.7% 1st serve wins this season. However, in her match against the Ukrainian player, this number witnessed only a minimal rise and stood at 79%. Remember, this number was 83% during her match against Katie Boulter and hence, the latest match sparked further concerns. Interestingly, the service game was one of the major aspects that Gauff wanted to work on after her new partnership, but the number of double faults she shot in her latest match, does not highlight much improvement.

Earlier, Gauff opened up on her aspirations with her new coach and said, “There are other parts of my game that I want to work on, too, but the focus right now is the serve. When I serve well, I play pretty well. For me, that’s the basis for my game.” But despite the latest struggle, Gauff is determined to strive and prove herself on the courts.