Andy Roddick has 'full faith' in Coco Gauff's ability to fix her serving and forehand 'yips': "She will self-correct at some point"
Andy Roddick has shared his admiration for Coco Gauff's resurgence during the Asian swing, despite her serving woes. Roddick also expressed confidence in the 20-year-old's ability to make the necessary improvements to her game.
Gauff's title defense at the 2024 US Open ended in disappointment, as she suffered a shock fourth-round upset to Emma Navarro, during which she struck 19 double faults.
Although the American bounced back strongly to clinch her second WTA 1000 title at the China Open, her serving issues resurfaced at the Wuhan Open, as she recorded 21 double faults during her 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss to Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.
During the latest episode of the 'Served with Andy Roddick' podcast, Roddick commended Coco Gauff for rebounding after her devastating US Open exit and split with coach Brad Gilbert. The 42-year-old highlighted that Gauff nearly defeated Sabalenka in Wuhan despite her serving woes making another appearance.
"We're talking about Coco Gauff, I want to give credit where credit's due because the loss at the US Open, the 11 or 12 double faults in the third set, the questions post-Brad Gilbert, dealing with a lot of things to create a bit of a momentum set that even with the second serve rearing it's ugly head again against Sabalenka and almost winning that match," he said.
The former World No. 1 also pointed out that even with the "yips" on her serve and forehand, Gauff managed to climb back to World No. 3 after the Asian swing. Roddick expressed confidence that the 20-year-old would be able to correct these issues, just as she had improved other aspects of her game.
"These two things are rarely said, they can rarely be true, someone has full-blown yips on one shot, probably has yips adjacent where there is some work to be done on the forehand," Roddick said.
"I don't think anyone would say any different and also she just went back up to No. 3 in the world with having dealt with these things all year which is crazy town. I think the rest of her game has become so much better than even it was a year ago that she will self-correct this at some point, I have full faith. I think she is committed to it, she is a hard worker," he added.
"Can we take a step back and be realistic" - Andy Roddick on Coco Gauff's 'impressive' turnaround despite her 'struggles'
During the same podcast, Andy Roddick acknowledged that fixing the flaws in Coco Gauff's game would take time. However, the former World No. 1 argued that, despite the focus on her weaknesses, the 20-year-old was still back to being the World No. 3.
Roddick further emphasized how impressive it was that Gauff had found momentum in the face of all the "struggles" and mental gymnastics she was going through.
"It's not going to get better overnight, it's not flipping a switch but all of these things that we constantly harp on and are negative about, and probably fairly so, she's back up to No. 3 in the world and she's 20 years old," Roddick said.
"Can we take a step back and be realistic for a second? That's pretty impressive. The mental gymnastics that she's having to go through and also somehow finding momentum in the face of these struggles is impressive in its own way," he added.
Meanwhile, Coco Gauff has disclosed that she and her coaching team have found the "solution" to her serving issues, explaining that she simply needed time to implement the adjustments. The American will hope to display her improved serve at the 2024 WTA Finals, scheduled to commence on November 2.