Coco Gauff was beaten by fellow American Emma Navarro in the fourth round of her US Open title defence as she struggled with many aspects of her game.
On that particular occasion, Gauff’s forehand struggled, but her serve completely let her down. She served 19 double faults, and 11 in the final set to cap off a difficult summer, where she has lost in the last 16 of the last three major tournaments.
Since the defeat, there have been calls for Gauff to replace her coach Brad Gilbert and look elsewhere.
Speaking after her defeat, Gauff said: “I fought really hard today. I just didn’t take care of my serve, so that was the biggest difference,” Gauff said.
“Mentally and emotionally I gave it my all. Of course, there were things execution-wise, where I wish I could serve better.
“I think if I would did that, it would have been a different story for me in the match.”
One person on X, formerly known as Twitter, suggested Australian Nick Kyrgios, who dutifully replied saying: “I’d coach her.”
Gauff has previously defended Kyrgios when he was given a code violation for spitting at his own box, before smashing his rackets in anger in a 2022 US Open defeat to Karen Khachanov.
A then-18-year-old Gauff said: “I know there’s things on the court that he does that people don’t agree with. I probably don’t agree with some things.
“Overall I think he’s a nice person. At least he’s always been to me. I remember I first hit with him, he probably doesn’t remember this, I was 13 years old at Miami Open. He finished his practice, hit with me for, like, 30 minutes.”
