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Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs criticized Coco Gauff’s "bad technique" after she failed to defend her title at the 2024 US Open. Stubbs made these comments in front of Gauff’s coach, Brad Gilbert.
Gauff arrived at the New York Major with questions surrounding her form, but she quickly put those doubts to rest with a commanding 6-2, 6-0 win over Varvara Gracheva in the opening round.
The American followed it up by defeating Tatjana Maria, 6-4, 6-0, and then Elina Svitolina, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. However, in the fourth round against her compatriot Emma Navarro on September 1, she struggled with her serve, hitting 19 double faults—11 in the third set alone—and committed three in the final game. This resulted in a 3-6, 6-4, 3-6 defeat.
Stubbs discussed Coco Gauff's disappointing US Open exit during an ESPN conversation with her coach, Brad Gilbert. The Aussie criticized the 20-year-old's game, noting that her techniques fell apart under pressure, and questioned her confidence.
"Where is Coco's confidence?" the veteran coach questioned. "The thing with Emma [Navarro] is that she is always looking to attack and most women are looking to attack because they often see a slow second serve in women's tennis. Not like in the men's."
"But the difference with Coco is that sometimes she was hitting at like in a mid-90-s second serve, then she was going a little bit slower in the middle. There's no second serve, that's the sign. And that's a problem," she added.
Stubbs continued:
"So under pressure, bad technique breaks down and her technique is...hard for me to say because Brad [Gilbert] is sitting here...but her technique, the elbow, is too low, the grip is a little weird as well. So it's hard for her to get that nice first serve and then the same or similar second serve."
Coco Gauff on US Open 2024 4R exit: "It is disappointing, but I'm not going to beat myself up"
Coco Gauff spoke at a press conference following her fourth-round loss to Emma Navarro at the 2024 US Open. She admitted it wasn't the "summer" she had hoped for, but added that many players would have "loved" to have had a campaign like hers.
"It's not the summer that I want," she said. "I feel like there's, like, 70 other players in the draw that would love to have the summer that I had even though it's my least probably done well during this time of the year."
The American added:
"Obviously because I'm wanting to reach a different level, it is disappointing, but I'm not going to beat myself up and be, like, this was so bad. Yeah, I expect better, but at the end of the day it happened, and I know I can turn it around."
Gauff is now set to leave New York ranked outside the Top 5 of the WTA Rankings for the first time in a while.
