Coco Gauff has 'logic-based' plan to fix her broken serve

World No. 3 Coco Gauff's serve is broken, and she knows it.

In the 2025 season, the American star has committed a staggering 405 double faults, the most by any player by a wide margin. Furthermore, Gauff's forehand remains far too inconsistent for a player as gifted as her in other facets of the sport.

To address those issues, Gauff is working with biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan, who played a key role in turning around the career of World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. In 2022, the Belarusian had a flawed serve until she reworked her mechanics courtesy of MacMillan.  

Coco Gauff seeking inspiration

Gauff is looking to not just Sabalenka, but also Novak Djokovic, for inspiration. It's easy to forget that the 24-time major winner also had an iffy serve at the start of his career, especially on slower surfaces.

In an interview with The National, Gauff revealed she's been analyzing old footage of Sabalenka and Djokovic to identify the changes they made to their games.   

"I was looking at Novak and he's someone who didn't have as great of a serve in the beginning of his career, obviously different issue than me, but he just wasn't serving as strong," the two-time major winner said. "And he made that change and has gone on to obviously be Novak Djokovic. And even at that time, he was still like a successful player. So yeah, I've drawn on those experiences. And obviously Aryna and Venus [Williams] and those who've done those changes."

Coco Gauff, flawed but victorious

Gauff shot down the theory that her flawed serve could be due to a mental hurdle. The 21-year-old believes that renewed mechanics will fix her serve, and she has a "logic-based" plan to achieve the best result. 

"I feel like with my serve, there have been a lot of comments and opinions, and things that I've tried and it just didn't help. I'm a very logic-based person and I felt like this was the best thing to make it logical for me. A lot of people thought it was mental and things like that, but I knew for me, it wasn't because of the fact that I feel like I'm one of the mentally stronger players on tour."

It's rather amazing that, despite the various chinks in her armor, Gauff continues to win at the highest level. The American secured her second career major at Roland Garros earlier this year and followed it up with a historic win at the recent ATP-1000 event in Wuhan.

Gauff now heads to Riyadh to defend her WTA Finals title. If she prevails, she'll become the first player to win back-to-back WTA Finals since her idol, Serena Williams, who three-peated from 2012-14.