Coco Gauff has one notable liability in her game despite an excellent career to date, but Serena Williams' former coach, Rick Macci, thinks she can become No. 1 by implementing one fix.
Expectations on Gauff at the start of the 2025 season will be even higher than usual after she finished 2024 very strongly, most notably winning the season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
That was the second-biggest title of Gauff's career, with the US Open being the most significant. However, the 20-year-old received the largest paycheck in women's tennis history at the WTA Finals: $4.805 million.
Gauff also secured her second WTA 1000 title at the China Open in October. It was her first title since the ASB Classic during the opening week of the season, which was a long drought by Gauff's high standards.
In truth, the young star did incredibly well to stay competitive during those months without a title, considering some of the issues she had with her game. Gauff reached the semifinals at the Australian Open, Indian Wells Open, Italian Open, and French Open.
The American had some forehand problems, but the main problem was her second serve. Gauff hit more double faults in 2024 than any other player on the WTA Tour, which is a startling statistic.
It is important to note that Gauff played more matches than any other player last season, meaning the 2023 US Open champion had more opportunities to hit double faults. For example, Marta Kostyuk hit more double faults per match on average.
However, Gauff's average double faults were still much higher than those of any of her opponents near the top. She showed outstanding mental resolve to win many matches when that and her forehand were both issues.
Macci, a hall-of-fame tennis coach who coached both Serena and Venus Williams, has spoken in the past about Gauff's serve. He feels the problem could be fixed in an hour if it is biomechanically rewired.
Macci mentioned the issue again in a post on X. The experienced coach thinks biomechanical modifications could help her overtake the Polish star Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka to reach No. 1 in the rankings.
"If her subtle liabilities become an asset with year end biomechanical modifications look for Coco the Delray Dart to Dart into the Pole position and replace the Pole. @CocoGauff."
Swiatek, who had dominated the No. 1 ranking since April 2022, is currently at No. 2 behind Sabalenka. However, Gauff, the current world No. 3, will need to overtake both women to reach the top of the rankings for the first time.
Although it is challenging to predict when it will happen, Gauff seems destined to eventually reach No. 1. Her outstanding talent and hard work off the court, since she was a teenager, means the WTA Finals champion is taking all the right measures.
2025 could be the best of Gauff's career, but Sabalenka and Swiatek's quality makes winning the Grand Slams challenging. Elena Rybakina, Qinwen Zheng, Jessica Pegula, and Jasmine Paolini are other players who will also believe they can claim a major title next season.
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