Gauff Serves Up a Day 1 Winner at Wimbledon

Coco Gauff headed into Wimbledon riding a four-match grass court losing streak that dated back to 2024. During her pre-tournament press conference she was quick to admit that her grass game is a work in progress, while also saying that she planned to be more aggressive with her serve in order to jump start her acceleration on Wimbledon’s slippery surface.  

Clearly, the 22-year-old meant what she said. 

Gauff put forth a sterling performance on Day 1, winning 23 of 26 first serve points as she raced past Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch, 6-2, 6-1 in 54 minutes. 

Gauff made 67 percent of her first serves and also won nine of 13 second serve points. She never faced a break point and finished points at the net with ease, winning 14 of 16. 

“I felt like I could hit wherever I wanted on the court, and we’ve been working on it a lot, so I’m really happy with the progress,” Gauff said on court after the win, which sets a second-round clash with Solana Sierra of Argentina.

Gauff says her improvements on serve trace back to the French Open, even if she didn’t get the result she wanted out of her Roland Garros title defense. 

“Even though I got broken a lot, I felt like I needed that tournament to trust the consistency of my serve, and I think that tournament proved that for me, and now it’s trusting the aggressiveness,” she said, adding: “I feel like in Berlin was able to trust the aggressiveness, and now I’m here.”

Identifying the Identity

Wimbledon was the scene of Gauff’s arrival on tour. As a 15-year-old in 2019, she upset Venus Williams in the first round and reached the round of 16, becoming the youngest to achieve that feat since 1991. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam where she has not progressed past the round of 16. 

She says finding her identity will give her clarity, and if she can keep serving to spots, and keep asserting herself with precision, she believes she can get far.

“I’m just trying to figure out how I want to play on grass,” she said. “I feel I finally have an idea of what that looks like for me in my head, now it’s about just executing it. Where as before, I think I was really just taking it point by point.

“Now I feel like I have clear, concise plans, things that I want to do, whereas before I feel like I was always adjusting to my opponent. Now I feel like I’m making my opponent adjust to me.”