Rick Macci doesn't appear to have many concerns about Coco Gauff's serve as Serena Williams' childhood coach is a firm believer that the 21-year-old's serve will actually become her "weapon" if she successfully reconstructs it during the offseason.
Shortly after it became apparent in 2023 that Gauff's service technique was an issue, Macci started calling on the top-ranked American female tennis player to pull off an Aryna Sabalenka and turn to a biomechanics coach for help. This past August, the reigning French Open champion finally decided to do so and hired Gavin MacMillan, the same biomechanics expert who famously fixed Sabalenka's serving woes in 2022.
Since hiring MacMillan, Gauff has appeared in two tournaments - the US Open (lost in the round-of-16) and Beijing (lost in the semifinal). In those two tournaments played, the former world No. 2 definitely showed some signs of improvement on her serve, but it was also clear at times that she was focused too much on sticking to her new technique and not making many mistakes.
ADVERTISEMENT
Macci: Gauff is a 21-year-old champion and her serve will become a weapon
"Coco is a champion. She is just 21 years old. Her serve will become a weapon. If she unplugs this December, does reconstructive surgery and rewires the muscle memory and learns the ATP forehand, she will be able to hold the baseline and dictate instead of defend," Williams' childhood coach wrote on X.
After losing to Naomi Osaka in the US Open round-of-16, Gauff very directly told the reporters that the 100 percent of her focus for the rest of 2025 was on "improving" as a player.
Whatever happens for the rest of the year, I just want it to be improvement. I dont care about results," the world No. 3 underlined after her US Open exit.
ADVERTISEMENT
Gauff is now set to play in Wuhan, where she has a first-round bye and will meet either Wang Xinyu or Moyuka Uchijima in the second round.
