Coco Gauff compares her 2nd serve problems to Simone Biles' "twisties", says the double faults were "definitely a mental issue"
Coco Gauff moved into the second round of the 2021 National Bank Open with an efficient 6-1, 6-4 win over Anastasija Sevastova on Tuesday. All the parts of Gauff's game seemed to be in fine working order, with her serve in particular looking quite strong.
It hasn't always been smooth sailing for the American on serve though. Coco Gauff has racked up a whopping 214 double faults in 42 matches this year, the highest on the WTA tour.
But Gauff has shown an improvement on her second serve in recent weeks, and it showed against Sevastova. The 17-year-old committed only three double faults on Tuesday.
When asked to elaborate on her second-serve problems during her press conference, Gauff admitted that her high double fault count was more mental than technical.
"Yeah, I definitely would say it was more of a mental issue," Coco Gauff said. "When I had those double fault problems, I was in practice making like 40 serves in a row, and then I would get to the match and not be able to make one. So it's definitely a mental issue."
Coco Gauff then made a reference to countrywoman Simone Biles' recent remarks about suffering from "twisties" - a condition that robs gymnasts of their sense of space and leads to risky landings.
Simone Biles was forced to pull out from a number of events at the recent Tokyo Olympics due to this problem. In her statement, Biles claimed she couldn't differentiate between directions while doing her flips, before explaining why that is a dangerous situation to be in for any gymnast.
"It's (twisties) the craziest feeling ever," Simone Biles said during the Olympics. "Not having an inch of control over your body. What's even scarier is since I have no idea where I am in the air, I also have NO idea how I am going to land. Or what I am going to land on. Head/hands/feet back…."
Coco Gauff drew a parallel between her problems with the second serve and Simone Biles' issues with the twisties. The American teenager acknowledged that her case wasn't physically dangerous like that of Biles, but pointed out how it could make things awkward while serving.
"I guess now I found they've finally found a term for it," Coco Gauff said. "As Simone said, Simone Biles, she called it the twisties. Obviously, in tennis, we won't get hurt from double faulting on like, what the twist is in gymnastics. But I think that's what I had on the serve."
"Obviously, not as in you're not going to get injured from it," she added. "And it's not as serious of a thing as it is in gymnastics, but I really, I think that's what I had him on my serve. It's all mental."
Coco Gauff went on to claim that she believes she has seen the back of her second-serve problems, courtesy of the hard yards she has put in.
"And then once you get out of it, like you said, I got out of it," Gauff said. "I don't have as many double faults, but it just took a lot of repetition and breaking down the serve and just to really in practice making up game situations and trying to put yourself in pressure, but it took a long time."
"The reason why I practice on the fast court is because it makes the matches on other courts seem slower" - Coco Gauff
The courts at the 2021 National Bank Open are reportedly on the slower side this year, with quite a few players talking about the relatively low pace on offer.
Coco Gauff also claimed that the courts are on the slower side, but asserted that that doesn't affect her too much. Gauff explained how practicing on fast courts has helped her improve her reflexes, giving her more time when she plays on slower surfaces.
"It's definitely not the fastest I've played on I mean, or I train it at home," Coco Gauff said. "I train on a fast court. So I actually prefer playing on a fast court and coming or practising on a fast court and coming to courts like this, which are not as fast as... I wouldn't say it's necessarily slow, but it's not as fast as the one I play it at home. But that's the reason why I practice on the fast court is because it makes the matches in other courts seem slower."