Double trouble: Coco Gauff tops double fault chart in 2026 as she sets unwanted tournament record

Coco Gauff is one of the best players in the world, yet her serve is really holding her back from firmly sticking with the elite in this sport. Despite all the help and attention bought to it, she remains the player on the WTA Tour with the most double faults, following a concerning trend from last year.

Despite this poor form in such a crucial part of the sport, Gauff is ranked as the world number four. This could come tumbling down after she enjoyed a hugely successful clay swing last year where she made a brace of WTA 1000 finals before winning her second Grand Slam at the French Open against the world number one Aryna Sabalenka. She then started to really struggle with her serve going into the rest of the year.

She failed to win a match on grass before a woeful North American hardcourt swing saw her exit the US Open in the fourth round. She improved her game in the Asian swing with two deep runs in the brace of WTA 1000 tournaments, culminating in the semi-finals of the China Open before triumphing in the Wuhan Open.

All of this occurred while her serve was a major talking point in the tennis community, and all for the wrong reasons. Ahead of the 2025 US Open, she appointed biomechanics specialist Gavin McMillan who had worked miracles with players like Sabalenka. His job was to improve Gauff's serve, but after he was on the end of an outburst from the 21-year-old at the recent Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, it looks like that relationship has turned sour.

Four tournaments in for Gauff and already she has amassed a whopping 103 double faults. Her closest rival in these tallies is Victoria Mboko with 72 and Daria Kasatkina with 71. This is already a huge concern to rack up numbers as high as this, with it showcasing that the serve has not improved at all.

These double faults are obvious free points given away, but adding to it her second serve is very vulnerable. It is a trend for players to be aggressive on this and she has struggled to hold her serve on a number of occasions already this year, a continuous trend from last year.

She has held this unwanted record in 2024 (430) and 20225 (432) with the numbers looking like they will continue to rise. It is a huge concern for the American whose lofty ambitions are starting to become less likely.

Nevertheless, she has showed grit and determination to keep herself in matches, finding different ways to win. She reached the semi-final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships despite surviving three match points in her last-16 match against Elise Mertens in a stunning win. In total, she played four matches, but this was enough to highlight a new tournament record this year.

In those four matches, she reached a worrying 48 double faults. 12 against Anna Kalinskaya, 16 against Mertens, eight against Alexandra Eala and 12 in the defeat to Elina Svitolina at the semi-final stage.

She will now look towards the Sunshine swing on home soil as she continues to try and figure out these disturbing problems. One thing is for sure: she will not give up, and she will continue to find ways to succeed on court.