"I have faith in my serve, I’ve been serving well" - Improvement in serving noticeable as Coco Gauff continues Wimbledon progress

Serving is a crucial skill on grass. Coco Gauff has been notorious with not having the best serve with it being a huge part of her downfall in certain matches. However, her fortunes are seemingly turning around following a positive spell at Wimbledon.

Into the fourth round for the first time since 2024, the American is finding some form on an unfavourable surface at the right time. She will hope to get past this stage for the first ever time, but a big part of that will be down to how her serve is.

This time last year, that was the main headline surrounding Gauff. Ahead of the US Open, she brought in biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan following countless double faults and concerning serving stats.

There has been improvement over time with the odd blip, but the two-time Grand Slam champion seems to be on the right path as she looks to climb back up the order while challenging for the biggest titles.

Gauff has never enjoyed playing on grass. In fact, her first round win at Wimbledon was the first match on the surface that she had won since 2024 at SW19 following two round one defeats last year. It also affects the way she serves with a lot of her knowledge that has been taken in put to one side.

She was asked how her serve felt. “I mean, I don’t know. I feel like I played great in some moments and not so great in others. I guess that’s tennis. I definitely would like to play a little bit better,” she said in her press conference.

“But I don’t know, I feel like it’s just because this isn’t a surface I’m always comfortable on. I’m really just trying to learn and see what works for me. I feel like today I didn’t necessarily stick to the things that were working to get me the lead. Then the serve, I mean, I was going for my serve today."

While it was not as good as other matches, she still had a lot in faith in her serve with this confidence a key ability for her sudden improvement. “I wasn’t quite landing them as I did in the first match. I had a bunch of aces in the first match. I also played a better returner. I couldn’t always just go hard body because she was catching them really well. I think I can put in some more variety on my serve, for sure.

“But then again, my serve did get me out of some tough games, too. I think it’s just one of those days that I have faith in my serve, I’ve been serving well, and I just need to maybe mix it up a little bit more.”

Gauff dropped just seven points on serve in a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win against Tamara Korpatsch in her opening match with two of them being double faults. In her next two matches, 11 doubles faults have been committed. She did hit 10 aces in a gruelling battle against Solana Sierra with her first serve percentage again very eye-catching.

Her recent win over Claire Liu may have had the worst serving stats out of all three matches played in this year's Wimbledon for the 22-year-old, but it is still a vast improvement on her prior struggles.

“I mean, there were no serves today that I was hitting that I was, like, I need to get it in," she continued. “I was trying to just be aggressive to a big target on the second serves. The first, I was going for my shots. I think it’s better when I’m playing that way. I think the girl gets fewer looks on my serve. I’m also getting more free points.

“I definitely think my first-serve percentage could have been higher today. Maybe I could have mixed in some more slices, just different targets instead of always going big. I definitely do think that when I’m going big, I do have faith that I’m going to connect eventually, because I know I can always get my serve in.”

As the competitions moves on with the calibre of improvements improving going into the second week, Gauff knows that she could get caught up and punished if she cannot get her serve right. “I feel like most of the time when my first serve does go in, I’m getting a weaker reply,” she stated. “I think it’s much easier to start the points off when you’re on the offensive than if you just get it in and you’re hoping the girl misses. At this level, it’s not going to happen, especially now in the second week.”

Her last-16 opponent comes in the form of Belinda Bencic. If she takes down the number 11 seed, she will face off against an American in the form of Jessica Pegula or Iva Jovic.