“Static legs and errors”: Caroline Wozniacki breaks down what went wrong for Coco Gauff against Paula Badosa

Former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki shared her thoughts on what Coco Gauff lacked during her Australian Open defeat. The 20-year-old American, seeded third, had been on a nine-match winning streak before falling in the quarterfinals to 11th seed Paula Badosa.

The Dane noted that Gauff frequently made errors with her forehand and committed six double faults, tallying a total of 41 unforced errors. Badosa took advantage to win in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4.

Wozniacki reveals key to Gauff’s defeat

Recently, the former Australian Open champion Wozniacki appeared on Rennae Stubbs’ podcast, the former coach of Serena Williams, where she discussed Gauff’s performance in her last match. “I think she didn’t play her best tennis. She got a bit too static with her legs and made too many unforced errors,” Wozniacki said. “But you have to give credit to Paula (Badosa). She really went for her shots.”

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“At 5-5 in the first set, she just started teeing off, and her miles per hour on the forehand and backhand side went up drastically,” Wozniacki added. “Obviously, Coco didn’t play her best. Too many errors. The first serve wasn’t working, but at the same time, Paula Badosa was really putting her under a lot of pressure.”

Since resuming her career in 2023, Wozniacki, a former World No. 1, has played a selective schedule, prioritising Grand Slams and some WTA 1000 events. However, she couldn’t participate in Australia due to physical issues during the off-season. “My body was not feeling great. When I started pre-season training, I was struggling with my body a little bit,” the former World No. 1 told Eurosport.

Her last match was at the US Open, where she reached the fourth round but was ultimately defeated by 22nd seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.

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