"I have no doubt her serve will be her best friend instead of sometimes her worst nightmare" - Rick Macci advises Coco Gauff on how to banish serving demons

If there is one major weakness in the Coco Gauff game, that is to many her serve. Normally caught out on it multiple times in matches, she has been dragged into numerous battles on court with breaks involving the American a constant theme. While she does have biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan on her team, legendary coach Rick Macci shared his thoughts on how to solve Gauff's woes.

This is not a new theme. For a while Gauff has been struggling with her serve, racking up the double faults. The most damming period came after her Roland Garros title triumph. From a delightful clay swing where she won a second Grand Slam title and reached a brace of WTA 1000 finals, her grass campaign was short and uninspiring. Losing in the first round of the two tournaments she competed, Gauff made the trip back to North America in hope to find her best tennis once more.

The North American hardcourt swing was a tricky one to take. Her serving was regularly getting exposed with the double fault tally skyrocketing. It was not uncommon to see her in the double digits in this unwanted stat.

Ahead of the US Open, she got MacMillan on board. He had recently worked wonders with Aryna Sabalenka's serve, one of the big reasons why she is world number one and consistently challenging for and winning the biggest titles the WTA can offer.

There seems to be mixed results. Gauff won the Wuhan Open while reaching the semi-final of the China Open just prior, showing vast improvements on court. A final in the Miami Open and a semi-final in Dubai are her standout results, but there seems to be simmering tension on court.

In her third round win at the ongoing Rome Open against Solana Sierra, she repeatedly whacked her racket on her head, showing signs of frustration at her overall performance. Her serving stats were not at the highest level, but she showed real grit and determination to get over the line in a ninth three-set match since the start of the Miami Open - spanning 13 contests.

Serena and Venus Williams' former coach has been vocal on social media in the past surrounding the Gauff game, specifically her serve. He offers much praise to the 22-year-old while trying to underline the problems regularly seen on court and how to solve them.

"Coco has the heart of a lion," he wrote on X. "She in unique in many ways. Quickest/ fastest and best overall athlete on tour. She wins on gifts from above."

While there is improvement with the serve, there is still work to do for Gauff. "The serve has biomechanically improved on a few elements but the ONLY way to really flip the double fault script to rewire the muscle memory with a clean slate from take back to stance (PLATFORM) and I have no doubt her serve will be her best friend instead of sometimes her worst nightmare."

Gauff reached the final of the Rome Open last year, losing to home hero Jasmine Paolini. She has huge ambitions in the Italian capital as she attempts to collect the points won from last year. The 2000 points collected at Roland Garros will also be under immense threat in the near future, making that title defence a hugely important one. This is why she is targeting a positive tournament showing in Rome. After disposing of Terea Valentova and Sierra. she has a tie against fellow American Ival Jovic for a spot in the quarterfinals.