"I'm honestly surprised" - Coco Gauff on serving woes, trying 'new things' after Wuhan Open loss to Aryna Sabalenka
Coco Gauff’s nine-match winning streak came to an end in the Wuhan Open semifinals, with her losing to Aryna Sabalenka. The China Open champion was unable to capitalize on a one-set lead as she went down 6-1, 4-6, 4-6.
The American’s serve misfired heavily in the encounter, with her posting 21 double faults in the three-set affair. She had earlier picked up 18 in her US Open fourth-round loss against Emma Navarro.
The concerning numbers at the US Open had prompted Gauff to begin work on her serve with new coach Matt Daly and if her own words are anything to go by, the youngster has been trying new things.
Speaking to the media after her Wuhan Open loss, Gauff said she has had only one week to get used to the small adjustments. She, in fact, added that her performance at the China Open surprised her given that she had very little time to get used to the new service motion.
"New things. Yeah, working on a new thing," Coco Gauff said. "It's expected. I only had really a week to learn it, then I went to Beijing."
"I knew it wasn't going to be great. I'm honestly surprised at how well I was able to do with it. We weren't expecting it. So yeah, I mean, overall it's growing pains, ups and downs," she added.
"I had a day in between to work on it" - Coco Gauff on drastic change in serve between China and Wuhan Open
Reasoning the return of her double fault woes, Coco Gauff said she was practizing a lot in Beijing given that the two-week format allowed for a day off in between matches.
That same luxury, she said, was not afforded at the one-week Wuhan Open. The youngster said she had gotten used to getting reps in on her serve and coming into Wuhan, the busy schedule made things progressively worse for her.
"Like, vice versa to Beijing," the American said. "I had a day in between every day to work on it, whereas here it was kind of back to back."
"I think it was progressively just becoming harder because I got used to getting those reps in between the matches in Beijing," she added.
Notably, Gauff played back-to-back matches at the Wuhan Open. She beat Viktoriya Tomova, Marta Kostyuk, and Magda Linette on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, before going down in the semifinals against Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday.