Coco Gauff admitted to changing her grip on serve but did not want to reveal everything about the change she made with that shot in a WTA Finals press conference.
Two shots have been the most significant issues for Gauff throughout her career: forehand and second serve. The 20-year-old is known for using an extreme grip on the forehand that some feel could hamper her.
However, Gauff's second serve is the more severe problem. She has served more double faults this year than any other WTA player, including 21 during the Wuhan Open semifinal against Aryna Sabalenka.
Gauff parted ways with Brad Gilbert after the US Open. The experienced coach did not seem to know how to help the world No. 3 with repeated issues with the serve and forehand.
Matt Daly was hired as Gauff's new coach. He has worked with Denis Shapovalov in the past, but he is also known to be an expert in grip changes, possibly making him the perfect person to partner with her.
The pair's working relationship got off to a very strong start. She won the second WTA 1000 career title at the China Open before reaching the semifinal in Wuhan the following week.
Gauff's forehand was already much improved in those two tournaments. She dominated rallies during the Asian swing in a manner not seen throughout the rest of the 2024 season.
The 2022 French Open runner-up's second serve remained a more significant problem, but it would be unfair to blame Daly for that so soon after beginning his work with Gauff, particularly when progress has been made with the forehand.
Although it is only one match, Gauff's second serve was solid in her opening match of the WTA Finals against Jessica Pegula. She only served a few double faults during a superb 6-3, 6-2 triumph.
In a press conference ahead of the WTA Finals, Gauff stated she had changed her grip on serve but tried to discuss the issue in a way that did not reveal all her secrets for opponents to exploit.
"Yeah, no, I have made a change with that. Yeah, obviously it's difficult. You do something you know one way for your whole life basically. Actually, I wouldn't say my whole life. I definitely think I migrated as time went on. But it was for a long time."
"You kind of have to correct it, and you're playing matches. Everything just feels fresh and new. It is difficult, but you got to think of the long-term and the long run. I feel like this is the right decision. When it was going well, it was going really well. Yeah, I think I just need more time with it. I spent two weeks at home working on it."
"Yeah for me, I don't want to spill all of my secrets, but it's mainly on the serve that i'm working on right now. Yeah. I've always had a decent serve, pretty good serve. I think just to make it more consistent is something that was necessary."
After using a different grip for so long, there may be a few hiccups along the way, but Gauff's serving performance against Pegula gave reasons to be confident about the grip change's effectiveness.
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