"It affects your game more": Rennae Stubbs reveals why Coco Gauff likely to struggle in her career

Ex-coach of the former world number one Serena Williams, Rennae Stubbs, believes that America’s Coco Gauff will always struggle in her career because of her technique. The 21-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category, along with the likes of Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka and Poland’s Iga Swiatek.

Gauff has struggled with some below-par performances in the recent past. She recently featured at the Indian Wells, where she was knocked out after losing in the round of 16 to Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Before that, Gauff lost in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship to McCartney Kessler. She lost to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the round of 32 of the Qatar Open as well. Ex-coach of the former world number one Stubbs has recently spoken in her podcast where she highlighted that Gauff is likely to struggle because of her technique.

“But I will say again, 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,” she said. “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. I adore Coco Gauff, I think she is the nicest kid, she is so personal when you see her. We get along really well and talk and I hate talking about her critically because she is such a special person. But it is my job to try and teach people why she doesn’t have the success they think she should and that’s why. 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? We will see. She is going to have unbelievable support in Miami. And maybe this is the breakthrough she needs going into the clay, which we know she plays well on. It is a work in progress. It is going to be a work in progress with the serve and her forehand for the rest of her career. And when she loses that is why she is going to lose, that’s why we always talk about it.”