By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, May 7, 2024
World No. 3 Coco Gauff shares focus of her Rome practices and her mission statement for the rest of her clay campaign.
Photo credit: Mateo Villalba/Getty
Rome’s red clay is a reloading zone for Coco Gauff.
World No. 3 Gauff will face either Magdalena Frech or Ashlyn Krueger in her Rome opener.
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The goal for Gauff is to improve on her 2023 Rome round of 32 exit, gain more match play ahead of Roland Garros and sharpen her sometime spasmodic second serve.
The former French Open singles and doubles finalist said she’s spending a primary part of her Rome practices trying to hit her targets on serve.
“Definitely improving the serve,” Gauff told the media in Rome today. “In the short time I feel like it has improved. Other than that, just kind of continuing to build on how I was playing in Madrid.”
Placing her service toss too far out in front of her at times, Gauff committed 13 double faults—three games worth of doubles—and squandered leads in a tight 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 to compatriot Madison Keys in the Mutua Madrid Open round of 16 last week.
At Stuttgart last month, Gauff hit eight double faults in a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) quarterfinal loss to Marta Kostyuk who went on to the final.
Though Gauff’s western grip forehand is often the focus of game improvement suggestions, her serve has been in the spotlight in practice.
The US Open champion, whose 168 doubles faults is second most on the WTA Tour this season behind only Kostyuk (172 double faults) she knows if she can diminish her propensity for double faults, she can transform some of her three-set losses into two-set victories.
Every tournament is a clean slate and a new opportunity for Gauff to clean up her serve.
“I think for me it's just serving better than I did last week, honestly. I feel like the other parts of my game are very improving in the right direction,” Gauff said. “I feel like that's the part that if I can work that through, I think it will set me up for a very good Roland Garros. Other than that, yeah, I feel like I'm returning well, hitting off the ground well.”
Cutting those troublesome double faults down can pay immediate dividends, Gauff said.
“For me, if I can get that part well, I can do well. I think last week, even though I lost 6-4 in the third, like 14 double-faults,” Gauff said. “This is like four or five games. I feel if I'm still close in these matches against Maddie, who is like a top player, I think I just fix that detail, it will save me and maybe those matches would turn into winning in straight sets instead of losing in three sets.”
The 2022 Roland Garros runner-up is on a mission to win her first clay-court title since 2021 and make a run at Roland Garros.
"I think clay and hard are definitely my favorite surfaces," Gauff said this spring. "Again, I can play well on all of them depending on how I show up to a tournament, honestly.
"But for the clay court season this year, I'm really optimistic. Obviously the goal is to win French Open, but that's every season of any top player. I mean, your goals should be to try to win the big tournament."
One event Gauff puts on part with the Grand Slams is the Olympic Games, which will be held at Roland Garros this summer. That gives Gauff a double opportunity to make her mark on dirt.
“I mean, for me, the Olympics is a top priority. I would say equal to the Grand Slams,” Gauff said. “I wouldn't put it above or below just because I've never played before. This is my first time.
“Obviously, I always want to do well, try to get a medal. Yeah, I mean, but the prep is going to be interesting because I've never done the grass-to-clay transition before.”