Coco Gauff is heading into her US Open title defense with a lot of doubt around her game and maybe minor chances of actually defending the title.
The best way to illustrate the difference between Gauff's performance last year and this year is to look at her performance each year. Last year, she arrived in New York after having just won the Cincinnati Open, and she won the Citi Open in Washington a few weeks before that.
This year, she will enter the US Open with an early exit in Cincinnati and a poor showing at the Canadian Open as well. She didn't defend the Citi Open title and failed to defend her trophy at the Cincinnati Open.
This season has a slightly different schedule. The Olympic Games were added to the calendar, which actually prevented the 20-year-old from playing in Washington at all. As former player Chris Evert noted when talking to ESPN, the experience itself was emotional for the youngster.
The former player knows Gauff well and has followed her every step in recent years. To her, it was clear that she wouldn't be able to compete well at the Olympics because of the sheer magnitude of the experience.
"It’s interesting, when I watched her at the Olympics, leading the parade, leading the whole Olympics, not only the American team, I saw her trading pins, she was photographed meeting all her idols."
"I’m like, this girl won’t be able to play. She’ll be so exhausted. She won’t be able to play. I didn’t expect her to win. She didn’t win. I think emotionally that took so much out of her."
It was a stressful experience for Gauff, who played singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Rushing to Toronto after that maybe wasn't the smartest move, but she did get two matches in before her Cincinnati Open experience.
However, it wouldn't matter much because she lost early. Besides just the long season, Gauff's game has plateaued as well. She's getting exposed with her forehand over and over again, and she's yet to meaningfully address it.
"Plus, the fact that the players now are exposing that forehand. It’s not backhand, backhand, forehand. They’re hitting every ball to the forehand. She had like 50 unforced errors in her last loss to Putintseva. I just think it’s been a long year. It’s been a long year."
Even with all the recent struggles, Evert is a firm believer in Gauff and her ability to turn things around. The landscape is quite competitive, but nobody is really playing spectacular tennis right now.
The best player recently was Sabalenka, who has a shoulder issue that might or might not flare up at any moment. There is certainly room for Gauff to insert herself in the conversation, but she will need to be better than she was so far.
"Do I think she can turn it around? 100% I think she can. Sabalenka is injured. Sabalenka had one good tournament. Iga has been struggling as well. Rybakina has been struggling as well."
"It’s going to be who is the freshest, who is the freshest for seven matches, and who can hold on and get that energy that they need. She can still win it."