Coco Gauff warned about her 'stressful' victories by Serena Williams' former coach

Wednesday, 22 October 2025 at 00:30

byJordan Reynolds

Coco Gauff is known for her mental toughness, grinding out countless victories, but Rennae Stubbs, who coached Serena Williams, questions whether that is sustainable.

Gauff won her third WTA 1000 title at the 2025 Wuhan Open earlier this month. She did not drop a set in victories against Moyuka Uchijima, Shuai Zhang, Laura Siegemund, Jasmine Paolini, and Jessica Pegula.

Although there were some competitive sets, especially in her 6-4, 7-5 final triumph over Pegula, it was one of the most dominant title runs in 2025. Few expected this, since Gauff is known for consistently being involved in tight battles.

The 2025 French Open champion often battles through second serve and forehand issues in the early rounds, making her matches quite ugly, but she usually finds a way by not letting her head drop when many others would.

In an episode of the Rennae Stubbs Podcast, the Australian questioned whether Gauff can keep pulling out tight victories, worrying that she might eventually mentally suffer from those efforts.

"The thing about winning ugly is that it’s got to be stressful. At some point, how much is she going to be able to take ‘I can’t get a serve in the court. I can’t hit my forehand! It’s not like I’m a bit nervous today.'"

"Jess Pegula’s biggest issue is that her racket doesn’t feel great, or ‘I can’t feel the ball’, but she’s never like ‘I know I can’t hit a serve. I would hate to walk out on the court and know that there were two weaknesses that were so glaring everyone knew about and as soon as I miss one or two of them be like ‘everyone knows I can’t hit my forehand in the court.'"

Despite those concerns, Stubbs outlined how much she respects Gauff's fighting qualities. Williams' ex-coach said the 21-year-old is built differently, indicating she does not think anyone could have fought through so many close battles.

"How many players in the top 10 are going ‘I hope I can hit that shot in the court today?’ and that is Coco. There were times she was double-faulting again. That was in the semis and in the final, but she just keeps going. She is built different."

"I give her tons of credit, I love her. I don’t know if it’s the right thing because at some point again, in a big match at the majors, is it going to hurt her though? That she hasn’t worked on those things enough."

Stubbs' tribute to Gauff's grit is thoroughly deserved. Although Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have won more Grand Slams, are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, and get more easy wins, they probably could not fight through as many matches as Gauff does.

There have been cases of Sabalenka and Swiatek panicking when one of their shots falters. Gauff has maintained good results despite a flaky forehand and severe second-serve issues, including hitting over 400 double-faults in 2024 and 2025.

Gauff has shown improvements since hiring biomechanics coach Gavin Macmillan a few days before the US Open. However, Stubbs' concerns are understandable, and the world No. 3 will hope to win matches more efficiently in 2026.