The past few weeks have been difficult for Coco Gauff as the extra training she spent on court to fix her serve had been mentally and physically taxing, but she is determined to continue to learn on the job.
Following her decision to part ways with Matt Daly after the Cincinnati Open in order to bring in biomechanical coach Gavin MacMillan, Gauff was forced to put in the hard yards ahead of the US Open, as the main goal is to completely change her service motion.
But the two-week period between the WTA 1000 event and the US Open was never going to be long enough for such a big change, and the two-time Grand Slam winner struggled during the season-ending Grand Slam.
After needing three sets to defeat Ajla Tomljanovic in the first round, she revealed that the training with MacMillan was often brutal as her shoulder would hurt after sessions.
There were also tears during her second-round win over Donna Vekic and following her two-set fourth-round defeat to Naomi Osaka, she admitted that she broke down following her exit in New York.
Some suggested the 21-year-old should take an extended break – both to recharge and to continue working with MacMillan – but Gauff has confirmed that she will head to Asia later in September for the China Open.
“I have no choice but to do a training block between now and Beijing, just the next tournament I’m signed up for,” she said.
“And like, I’ve said this every year after US Open, for me, it’s just improvement mode and to get ready for Australia. I had good results last year after US Open, and I think that’s just because I didn’t, I don’t want to say didn’t care because those tournaments obviously deserve effort, but I don’t know, it’s just that your mindset is different once the Slams are over.”
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Gauff is the defending champion in Beijing and that 2024 title run came at the perfect time as she struggled during the North American hard-court swing, failing to defend her Cincinnati and US Open titles, before turning her season around with her second WTA 1000 title.
The American followed that up with the WTA Finals title in Saudi Arabia in November.
The reigning French Open champion added: “So whatever happens for the rest of the year, I just want it to be an improvement. I don’t care, results-wise. Last year, if he told me I would go win in Beijing and WTA Finals, I would have been like, whatever, as I didn’t really care going into it.
“I’m going to probably have that same mindset. And if I do well, I’ll do well like I did last year. And if not, if not. But I think for me, main improvements I get are from how I do in the Slams.”
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