It may sound ridiculous to suggest world No 3 Coco Gauff should take a break from tennis, but this is written with the best of intentions.<\/p>\n
Back in June, just a few short weeks ago, Gauff<\/a> was dancing around Roland Garros after winning her first title at the French Open, with her battling win against world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka highlighting all her admirable fighting qualities.<\/p>\n Yet even on that dull Saturday afternoon in Paris, it was evident that a major hole remains in the game of this great icon of our sport, with her faltering serve a part of her make-up that has proved to be hard to shift.<\/p>\n At the age of 21, Gauff has already achieved more than many of the biggest names in the women\u2019s game, with her US Open win in 2023<\/a> and French Open triumph this year<\/a> inked onto a record that is already good enough to ensure she will enter the tennis Hall of Fame in the future.<\/p>\n Yet her performances at this year\u2019s US Open have been hard to watch.<\/p>\n Video of emotional Coco Gauff crying after latest tough US Open victor<\/a>y<\/p>\n WTA legend calls on Coco Gauff fans to \u2018take a step back\u2019 after tearful victory<\/a><\/p>\n After making the surprise decision to change her coaching set-up in the days before the final Grand Slam of the year, Gauff only had a few days to work with new coach Gavin MacMillan<\/a> before she played her first round match against Ajla Tomljanovic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gauff admitted she struggled to get through that match as she tried to process all the information coming her way from MacMillan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to do what we are trying to do during a Grand Slam,\u201d said Gauff.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very sudden decision to make the change. Gavin magically became available. I just felt this was the best decision for my game, at least, and I had to go with what I was feeling.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Matt is a great coach and a great person and 100% love working with him. Yeah, I mean, we obviously had a very successful partnership, but I\u2019m just looking at long term.<\/p>\n \u201cI know Gavin has had experience with this before so, hoping I can just take on his knowledge and see what can happen.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a decision I had to make and by this time next year, I\u2019m sure I will be serving a lot better. It\u2019s all about the mechanics and like learning a new language. It\u2019s just about trying that new [service] motion and when I do it well, it always provides a good result.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other thing is not just thinking about the serve. I need to think about how I will play out the point. It\u2019s not a mental thing. It\u2019s a biomechanics thing and I\u2019m just working hard to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n Gauff is asked about her serve in each and every press conference and it was clear that the emotion of everything she is dealing with was overwhelming her when she staggered through her second round match against Croatian Donna Vekic.<\/p>\n Visibly emotional during that match and also at the end as she spoke to the crowd, Gauff told Sky Sports her challenge was tough to deal with.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was a panic attack,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve had them before off court but it was the first time it happened to me on the court.<\/p>\n \u201cI was trying to calm myself down and breathe in the moment and that was why I went to the bathroom after the first set to reset.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was one of the moments where I was like \u2018I want to get off the court right now and it be over with\u2019. I think I needed it to happen because the support I got afterwards I realised how much people love me and how much I should love myself in those moments.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a learning experience, I\u2019ll remember it for the rest of my career and know there\u2019s a lot more to be grateful for than losing on a court.\u201d<\/p>\n Commendably, Gauff is continuing to fight her demons on the court, but the sensible move when her US Open adventure ends would be to step back from the spotlight, work with coach MacMillan to resolve her solving problems and return to action when the time is right.<\/p>\n Anyone who has played tennis at any level will confirm that your game tends to be built around your serve.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s working well, the rest of your game tends to flow around it, but Gauff has a remarkable ability to compartmentalise on court, with her serve treated as a separate entity to her impressive all-round game.<\/p>\n She has had issues with her forehand as well, but they are not as significant as her serving problems, that can creep up on her suddenly and when they strike, they hit in a real rush.<\/p>\n Double faults can flow, as tension visibly rises and it is hard for the audience at the stadium and watching at home on TV to see this wonderful young lady putting herself through such a mental ordeal before our eyes.<\/p>\n So Gauff may be wise to take a step back in a bid to take a stride forward.<\/p>\n If she spends six weeks working with coach MacMillian away from competition, she could make huge progress on her service motion and while that may mean missing the Asian swing of the WTA Tour, it could be an investment in time that would reap long-term dividends.<\/p>\n Tennis needs Gauff to be a champion of our sport for a decade<\/a> and more and we don\u2019t need to see too much more of the agonies she has lived through at this year\u2019s US Open.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Has Coco Gauff already written off this year\u2019s US Open after candid admission?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Why the time has come for Coco Gauff to take a step back from competitive tennis<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It may sound ridiculous to suggest world No 3 Coco Gauff should take a break from tennis, but this is written with the best of intentions. Back in June, just a few short weeks ago, Gauff was dancing around Roland Garros after winning her first title at the French Open, with her battling win against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Tennis News<\/h2>\n