Coco Gauff highlighted that blasting 21 unforced errors and blowing a big lead against Aryna Sabalenka wasn't the end of the world for her as the American tennis star revealed that she experimented with a new serve in Wuhan and knew that something like that could happen.
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In the semifinal of the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan, the No. 4 seed appeared to be cruising toward a straight-set win over the Belarusian and clinching her 10th consecutive victory.
But after finding herself 1-6 2-4 down, Sabalenka managed to complete a stunning comeback and win 1-6 6-4 6-4. While the top seed came up big in some key moments, Gauff's serving woes also played a major part in the Belarusian's comeback.
After hitting three double faults in the first set, the 20-year-old hit nine of those in each of the next two sets. While it wasn't surprising considering that she has been struggling with her serve for months, it was still a stunning number of double faults for a single match.
Just before the start of the Asian swing, Gauff split with coach Brad Gilbert and hired Matt Daly.
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"New things. Yeah, working on a new thing. It's expected. I only had really a week to learn it, then I went to Beijing. I knew it wasn't going to be great. I'm honestly, like, surprised of how well I was able to do with it. We weren't expecting it. So yeah, I mean, overall it's growing pains, ups and downs. Like, vice versa to Beijing. I had a day in between every day to work on it, whereas here it was kind of back-to-back. I think it was progressively just becoming harder because I got used to getting those reps in between the matches in Beijing," sheexplained when asked if she reverted back to her old habits or it was something else that caused serving issues this time.
Sabalenka offered some major empathy for Gauff
If you remember well, the 26-year-old was going through similar problems just two years ago. Back then, the Belarusian was double-faulting a lot and she finished the 2022 season with a pretty unbelievable number of 428 double faults.
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At the time, Sabalenka was battling technical but also mental issues on her serve - which led to doubts and frequent errors. However, after turning to a biomechanics coach, she resolved the issue and has since won three Grand Slams and reached the world No. 1 spot.
But while her serving problems are a thing of the past, she didn't feel well at all for Gauff and just wasn't happy seeing it happening to the American.
"I was playing that match thinking, like, 'Well, girl, I feel you. I feel you like nobody else.' I know what she's going through. This is really difficult. This is really tough. But I know that if she'll be able to overcome this serve situation, she already one of the best players, but I'm pretty sure she's going to be one of the greatest players," Sabalenka said.
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Gauff asked about Sabalenka's comments
Since the three-time Grand Slam champion was the first in the press room following their match, the reporters had a chance to tell the 20-year-old about the sympathetic message she delivered. While the 2023 US Open champion appreciated the Belarusian's kind words, she suggested that she didn't want someone to feel sorry for her because she thought she had two good weeks in Beijing and Wuhan.
"I mean, I wouldn't describe it as the worst time ever. I've been through worse things in off-court situations than not being able to serve well. I mean, there is moments in the match where you are just like, I just want to leave the court. I think for me, I didn't want myself to go into that mentality because it's not going to change anything. I was just trying to be positive. Today it didn't work," Gauff said.
"But considering the moments in Beijing against Paula, I was down a set and a break, things like that, the mentality was positive. Overall I think it does help. I mean, it does give me confidence. I know she had a similar double-faulting issue. It does give me confidence knowing that everybody - not everybody - but a lot of players go through this.
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"Honestly, for me I'm not worried because I found the solution. I didn't really have time to work on it. Yeah, I'm really happy with how the last couple weeks went. I'm just trying to be positive from there."
Before seeing her Wuhan run come to an end in the semifinal, the American tennis star won her second WTA 1000 title in Beijing and overall her seventh WTA title.
Now, Gauff will turn her focus on preparing for the WTA Finals, which starts on November 2nd in Riyadh.
