All recommendations within this article are informed by expert editorial opinion. If you click on a link in this story we may earn affiliate revenue.
The 2025 season has been a struggle for Coco Gauff.
The American tennis star has suffered multiple early exits across WTA tournaments and former Serena Williams coach Rick Macci believes he knows why.
Gauff's poor showing this season was confirmed when she relinquished her title as the top-ranked American player and dropped to world No.4, with Jessica Pegula replacing her.
Since that United Cup win with Team USA in early January, Gauff has failed to make any impact in the tournaments that have followed.
She first suffered a quarter-final defeat to Paula Badosa in at the Australian Open.
The 21-year-old then suffered further losses to Martha Kostyuk in Doha before losing to McCartney Kessler 6-4, 7-5 in Dubai.
Her home tournaments at Indian Wells and the Miami Open did not offer any reassurances to Gauff either as she was upset by Belinda Bencic and Magda Linette, respectively.
Much of Gauff's struggles have come down to her serve and forehand, a skill that Macci believes she needs to rewire.
"Might get worse before better unless a science based approach is used to rewire," Macci said referencing her forehand.
"With speed like a member of the USA TRACK and two elite double BEES (Backhand/ Backbone) Coco is Special. C
"Can fight to many wins. If she takes a step back I know for sure she will go many more steps forward and most of all stay there."
It's not the first time that Macci has called for Gauff to improve her skills.
“Coco has untapped potential and can get to number one and most of all stay there,” Macci said on X back in early March.
“If second serve becomes an asset and forehand become her best shot, her first serve SOMEDAY can hit 130 mph as she continues to tweak. Make up speed is as good as the sport has ever seen."
Macci also isn't the only ex-coach of Williams to call for Gauff to improve her serve and forehand.
Rennae Stubbs, who coached Williams in 2022, : “Her technique fails under pressure and when you’re playing outside – a lot of her success last year and even at the beginning of this year was played indoors – there’s no wind or variables.
“When you have a technique that is questionable at times, whether it be the second serve and the service motion, and the service grip, all that sort of stuff and the forehand, it affects your game more."
Stubbs went further, claiming Gauff's forehand issues may never be solved, and that it's up to her to adapt her game to mitigate her weakness.
"Her technique on her forehand is always going to be a problem for her going forehand. So it’s a matter of can she get over those humps. Can she get through the tough three-set match, which she didn’t last week," Stubbs added.
Gauff herself brushed off criticism at Indian Wells a few weeks ago when asked about her worrying form.
“Everyone makes a bigger deal than what it is,” Gauff told reporters about her struggles.
“I’ll lose more matches back to back. It’s going to happen."
Gauff will look to kick start her season at the Madrid Open at the end of this month.
The tournament is on a clay, a surface she has had success on in the past.
She won the French Open doubles in 2024, a year after reaching the singles final.
