Mental Hurdle I Must Clear

By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, September 1, 2024
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty for ITF Davis Cup

NEW YORK—Coco Gauff served up self-sabotage as Emma Navarro ended her US Open reign today.

The world No. 3 will seek help from a serve doctor to try to remedy her second-serve issues.

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Navarro exploited 19 double faults from Gauff dethroning the defending champion 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to charge into her maiden US Open quarterfinal.

Gauff committed 11 of her 19 double faults in the final set. The result was nearly five games of double faults Gauff gifted today.

Stressed by Navarro’s aggressive return position, Gauff’s serving struggles today stemmed from the pressure of her maiden major title defense. Several of those double faults went into the net as Gauff sometimes pulls her head down too early, collapses the left side of her body and can decelerate her swing on second serve.

“I mean, obviously I go down on my left side a lot on my serve, and it’s something I’m aware of, but it’s tough in the moment to I guess try not to do it,” Gauff said.

Overall, Gauff committed 38 double faults in four Flushing Meadows matches.

Gauff, who worked with former No. 1 Andy Roddick to try to lower her ball toss and spread the service box, said the second serve is a mental hurdle she must clear.

To that end, she plans to seek a serving specialist, perhaps revisit her work with Roddick, to remedy that second serve.

“Yeah, I definitely want to get other opinions because, you know — and also I think it’s sometimes more of an emotional, mental thing because if I go out on the practice court right now, I would make, like, 30 serves in a row,” Gauff said. “I’ve done it before. I think it’s also just kind of a mental hurdle that I have to get over when it comes with that. But, yeah, I definitely want to look at other things because I don’t want to lose matches like this anymore.”