"It becomes a game changer" - Former Grand Slam champion believes Coco Gauff should take some time off to fix her forehand
WTA
Former American tennis player Mary Joe Fernandez believes that Coco Gauff should take a break from her playing career to work on her forehand.
At 18, Coco Gauff has an impressive forehand, which is a powerful weapon, capable of catapulting her to the top of the tennis world. Her forehand is a combination of power, technique, and accuracy. Every shot she makes is calculated and her follow-through is strong.
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Despite this, she has lost some of her matches. According to Fernandez, Gauff can afford to take time off due to her young age, and it would not have a negative impact on her career. In fact, it could prove to be immensely beneficial for the youngster in all of her upcoming matches.
"I guess for me I feel like she’s still young enough. I feel like she’s still so young that taking six months off, eight months off wouldn’t be the end of the world for her," Mary Joe Fernandez revealed on a recent episode of 'Holding Court with Patrick McEnroe' podcast.
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In the podcast, the two-time doubles Grand Slam champion reveals her conviction that if Gauff can master her forehand, she will be an unstoppable force.
"Her serve Patrick is big, I mean when you see it live she’s got a big first serve," she said. "So if she figures out how to manage and improve the forehand all of a sudden it becomes a weapon where she serves and she can actually run around and attack with that side. It becomes a game changer."
The 18-year-old's court awareness and mental toughness are commendable. With continued practice and development, Gauff has the potential to become one of the top tennis players in the world.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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