'I think she should take the entire rest of the year off' - Rennae Stubbs recommends Coco Gauff to take extended break after rocky spell of performances

Coco Gauff's US Open came to an abrupt end last night after losing in straight sets to Naomi Osaka in another challenging defeat for the American, who has struggled for form in recent weeks.

Going into the US Open, the world number three had the opportunity to jump rivals Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka to move up to the world number one spot, but that would only occur if she won the competition - and she never looked like she would compete.

After winning at Roland Garros for her second Grand Slam, she was dumped out of Wimbledon in the first round, before enduring disappointing campaigns in Montreal and Cincinnati. There were concerns coming into the final major of the year that Gauff would not be at the races. She managed to squeeze past Ajla Tomlijanovic in three sets before she produced two more convincing performances against Donna Vekic and Magdalena Frech.

However, she came unstuck against Osaka, with the four-time Grand Slam champion breaking twice in each set to overpower Gauff. Osaka only dropped six points on her serve, losing just one of her first service points in a supreme victory. For the American number one, it is another agonising result piled upon more woes and concerns.

Stubbs reveals concerns for Gauff

Six-time Grand Slam champion Rennae Stubbs spoke the tie on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, sharing her apprehension on Gauff. She touched on her depleted serve and forehand, and the demons she is currently trying to battle, recommending Gauff to take the rest of the year off. She said: "Yeah, Coco’s not comfortable. She’s fighting demons. She’s fighting her serve. She’s fighting her forehand. Gavin’s come in to try and do his best to correct some of the stuff, but that’s impossible to do in a week. Especially when the problems are real egregious. Her grips and her technique—really, really tough to change in a week.

"Listen, we’ve talked about this. I already said it on the podcast: I think she should take the entire rest of the year off. The whole rest of the year. Break every single thing down. Because today, we saw a more complete tennis player in Naomi Osaka. She has a more complete serve. She has a better grip on her—well, I don’t mean the actual grip—but a grip on her groundstrokes. Her forehand, her backhand—she knows what she’s doing. She sees a short ball; she knows where she’s going with it. With Coco, sometimes it’s like she doesn’t know whether to go high and loopy or flatten it out. Match point was just a basic forehand—into the middle of the net."