Coco Gauff admits it was a bit mentally challenging to "trust" her revamped serve, but was glad how it all went and hopes to build on from her US Open first-round win.
On Tuesday evening, the 2023 US Open champion took to the Arthur Ashe Stadium for her opening match at this year's tournament. It also marked the 21-year-old's debut with biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan, who was brought in just a week before the start of the final Grand Slam to help the world No. 3 fix her serving woes.
While Gauff struggled with consistency for the most part and it was all but an ideal day at the office, she still escaped with a 6-4 6-7 (2) 7-5 win over Ajla Tomljanovic in a grueling contest. In three hours of play, the two-time Grand Slam champion had four aces, 10 double faults, made 61 percent of her first serve points and won 66 percentof points under it.
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Gauff: In those tighter moments, the thing was not to return to my old serving habits
"The practice week was tough because I was spending a lot of time on court literally serving until, like, my shoulder was hurting. I feel like it's in the right direction, and I think for me it's trying not to go back to old habits in those tighter moments, and I think I did that today, especially in the third set... I think hopefully this time next year I'll be serving much better," the reigning French Open champion explained.
Serving for the match at 5-4 in the third, Gauff crumbled under the pressure and got easily broken back. Fortunately for the home star, she was able to earn another break in the 11th game before closing out the match in the following game.
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"Honestly, that third set was the definition of that. That game where I served it at 5-4, that was definitely like an old habit. The next game was a lot better," the world No. 3 added.
Gauff's US Open second-round rival will be Donna Vekic.
