Coco Gauff has a glaring weakness in her game, like many of her fellow pros, but hearing criticism from all corners has turned it into a mental problem according to Jimmy Arias.
The former ATP world number five was asked on the Inside-In podcast how he would address Coco Gauff's forehand. Jimmy Arias went into the specifics of executing a forehand and mentioned that Gauff has got it all wrong in terms of technique and execution.
But Arias says while that side of the issue can be solved, Gauff has probably heard enough of it from pundits and fans on social media, and it might actually get into her head. The Tennis Channel commentator said the problem might actually be more mental at this point.
Gauff is aware her forehand is defective and hasn't been able to take that next giant step to fulfill her teenage promise. Since she burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old at Wimbledon, a lot of people expected the young American phenom to have the WTA tour in the palm of her hands at this juncture.
"I think I can help her forehand to be honest. I mean she can call me. Basically, she hits her forehand with her arm. You need to hit your forehand with your rotation, big muscles, and your arms, and chest connected. Your arm should be out of it, it's relaxed, it's loose and your rotation is going to hit the ball and you just learn where the racket face is and get a racket head speed. She's all arm."
"It's going to be difficult (to fix) because now it's mental too. She hears about it all the time. So there is a combination of things that makes it more difficult."
The 19-year-old WTA star is planning to address the issue stringently during the off-season. Most of her opponents have figured out Gauff's ineffective wing and tend to play many balls to her forehand in order to draw errors, as Gauff rarely does damage from it.
Former coach of Serena Williams, Rick Macci, told us in an exclusive interview that little improvements mid-season don't help as she needs a biomechanical change to correct the issue in an elongated off-season. If it happens, Macci says Gauff would dominate the women's tour.
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