By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport

A year before Coco Gauff won her maiden major at the US Open, she was already going places.

The 20-year-old Gauff earned her first Class E driver’s license back in 2022.

More: Gauff Soars Into Wimbledon Third Round

These days, Gauff dreams of bringing the gas.

World No. 2 Gauff crushed 19-year-old Grand Slam debutant Anca Todoni 6-2, 6-1, rolling into the Wimbledon second round in just 66 minutes.

Gauff did not drop serve in today’s win and has surrendered just six games in two tournament wins.

Afterward, Gauff was asked if she checks the radar gun after serves as former world No. 1 Serena Williams did.

Not only does Gauff scan serve speed as a gauge of going for it, she shared a serve revelation.

Gauff is a speed freak with a serving goal: Crank a 130 mph serve in a match.

“I do check the serve speed sometimes in the match because I try to make sure I go for it,” Gauff said. “Sometimes unconsciously when you're tight, maybe you try to just get the serve in. There are times where I'll check.

“If I miss, even if I miss and the serve is like 119 or 118 and up, I'm like okay, that's good. I hate to miss when it's slower. I want to get to 130. I think the fastest I've gotten is 128. Do I have a 130 in me? I don't know. Maybe if I was a little bit taller. I can get definitely 130. Now, if it goes in, I don't know.”

If that 130 mph triple digit heat sounds a bit ambitious—Georgina García Pérez owns the fastest recorded women’s serve at 136.7 mph—consider today Gauff’s fastest serve was 122 mph and her average first-serve speed was 112 mph.



At the 2022 US Open, Gauff rocketed a 128 mph serve—the seventh-fastest recorded women’s serve in the Open Era—and Hall of Famer and seismic server Andy Roddick, who has worked with Gauff streamlining her serve and lowering her ball toss a bit—has said during his Tennis Channel commentary that she routinely hits mid to high 120 mph serves in practice.

Of course, the best servers show us serving percentage, second-serve strength and serving amid break-point pressure are all key components to a developing a dominant serve.

Today, Gauff served just 43 percent for the match and was under 40 percent on first serves in the first set. While she backed up both first and second serves beautifully, you wonder if a more experienced and dangerous opponent could have challenged her second serve more than the teenage Todoni.

Reigning US Open champion Gauff is the only woman to reach at least the semifinals of the last three straight Grand Slams.

Balancing her first-serve percentage with her desire to bring the high octane gas and exterminate points will be a key to Gauff making a deep run at The Championships.

If the 5'9" Gauff can accelerate on first serve and elevate her first-serve percentage, she could grow into a dominant surfaces on fast surfaces.

While we often think of big servers standing at or near 6' in women's tennis—Althea Gibson, Venus Williams, Brenda Shultz-McCarthy, Lindsay Davenport, Petra Kvitova, Naomi Osaka, Karolina Pliskova, Kristyna Pliskova, Elena Rybakina, etc.—remember some of the best servers in Open Era history, including Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Ash Barty were each 5'9" or shorter.

The 2022 French Open finalist Gauff will face British qualifier Sonay Kartal for a fourth-round spot.Kartal defeated Frenchwomen Clara Burel 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

“I take every moment seriously, every semifinal, every quarterfinal. I don't go in thinking I will have many more, just relax, because you don't know that, nothing is promised,” Gauff said today. “I think having that I just feel like, regardless of whatever happens in my career, I'll always have that to my name.

“I have a lot more aspirations obviously than just winning one. I think the start of one just gives you a taste and gives you the belief that you can do it again.”