Coco Gauff says she "did not want to waste time" continuing with something that evidently wasn't working anymore and that's why she decided to abruptly fire coach Matt Daly and add biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan to her team.
Since going all the way at the French Open, the American has gone just 4-4, including a disappointing Wimbledon first-round exit. And poor serving and double-fault issues have played a major part in the world No. 2's struggles.
After blasting 16 double faults during her Cincinnati round-of-16 loss to Jasmine Paolini, Gauff was spotted practicing at the US Open without Daly on the court. But there was MacMillan - the same biomechanics coach who famously fixed Aryna Sabalenka's serving woes in 2022 and changed her career for the better.
To no one's surprise, the American tennis star was instantly asked to address her move in a pre-tournament presser. And she pretty much said that she didn't want to wait for the offseason, but that her goal was to fix her issues as soon as possible.
Gauff: I didn't want to waste time continuing with the wrong things
It was a very sudden decision. I felt this was a good opportunity. I don't have that many points to defend honestly in this part of the season. I'm one of those people, I'm looking at long term. I hope I can get it all togetherI think I'll play either Monday or Tuesdayby then. If not, I have the rest of this year to work on it. But I do know I needed to make a change, technical change to it, and I don't want to waste time continuing doing the wrong things," the 21-year-old explained.
Judging by Gauff's words, she probably won't put too much pressure or expectation on herself in the upcoming period since she is aware that her serve cannot be fixed overnight. However, that doesn't mean that she won't want to do well at the US Open.
In any case, it will be very interesting to see if Gauff makes some changes to her serve already at the US Open and how it will all look. The home star plays against Ajla Tomljanovic in the first round.
