Coco Gauff reveals ‘one thing she learned from Serena Williams’

Coco Gauff has been working hard on her return game and she admits she has taken a leaf out of tennis great Serena Williams’ book when it comes to improving.

The American booked her place in the third round of the French Open thanks to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Dayana Yastremska and it was her return game that was the backbone of the win.

Attack was the best form of defence for Gauff as she broke the Yastremska serve five times and won 52% (34/66) of return points.

But it is not just at Roland Garros where the improvement has been visible as she won 50.2% of return points this season in 33 matches before the start of the French Open while world No 1 Iga Swiatek was on 49.2% from 40 matches and Aryna Sabalenka on 44.2% (32 matches).

Gauff admits she has taken inspiration from 23-time Grand Slam winner Williams in terms of putting in the hard yards on the practice court.

“For me, returns were something I was working on a lot because my return-made percentage honestly used to be really, really bad like a couple years ago. I’d be curious to look at those stats,” she explained to the official WTA website.

“One thing I learned from Serena, she would spend probably like an hour sometimes literally just hitting returns.

“I took inspiration from that because that’s the first part of the point. I think the average rally is like four or five balls. The first two balls are really important.”

Coco Gauff: Who makes up the team behind reigning US Open champion?

Another tweak to her return game has been has been a shortened swing and making sure that she keeps her opponents guessing by switching up her return position.

“It’s not a huge [adjustment] that I made,” she added. “I think it came with just reps.”

The 20-year-old stands a lot deeper behind the baseline these days as that was one of the key changes Brad Gilbert made when he took over as coach last year.

And the legendary coach admits by standing so far back, Gauff has a lot more time.

“When she would play up on the baseline, she would miss one or two returns a game,” Gilbert explained.

“I think allowing her to have more time opens things up and takes advantage of her strengths. She makes way more returns and uses her movement and her ability to defend and play offence.”

2024 WTA prize money leaders: Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka out in front