Coco Gauff blowing a big lead versus Aryna Sabalenka in Wuhan wasn't the only negative thing for the 20-year-old as she also set two negative records with her lackluster serving performance.
On Saturday, the American tennis star blasted 21 double faults in a match where the top-seeded Belarusian came back from a set and a break down to win 1-6 6-4 6-4.
While the recent Beijing champion double-faulted three times during the first set, she was still routinely winning her service games so there was no reason for concern. But then, Gauff started to struggle heavily on her serve and that led to Sabalenka claiming a total of six breaks across the second and third sets.
The 20-year-old hit nine double faults in each of the last two sets and she even double-faulted on the Belarusian's match point in the 10th game of the decider.
Now, Gauff has a new career-high for the most double faults delivered in a single match.
Also, she now leads the WTA Tour for the most double faults hit in a match this year.
Gauff kept it very honest after the loss
After winning nine matches in a row and putting herself in a great position to reach the Wuhan final and battle for back-to-back WTA 1000 titles, it was definitely very disappointing for the world No. 4 to lose to Sabalenka the way she did.
In the second set, the American was three times up by a break but it still wasn't enough for her to seal the deal. Afterward, Gauff admitted that had her serve worked, she would have very likely ended on the winning side.
"I mean, overall it was a tough match. Aryna played well. I didn't serve great. I think if I could do that better, then it probably would go my way today. Overall, I was up a set and a break. Yeah, I was playing good off the ground. She stepped up her level," she said.
Meanwhile, Gauff revealed in her post-match presser that she and her new coach Matt Daly made some tweaks to her serve. And since Beijing and Wuhan were basically experiment tournaments, she wasn't that surprised over what happened against Sabalenka.
"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," the 20-year-old explained.
Gauff shuts down concerns regarding her serve
Following a win over the American, Sabalenka told reporters that she felt for her rival on the court because she was battling a similar issue with her service during the 2022 season. Also, the 26-year-old shared that back then, her problems were technical but also mental.
"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 when told about Sabalenka's message.
Also, the 2023 US Open champion highlighted that she was confident that she would found a solution.
"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," she added.
Meanwhile, Gauff is now ready to go back to the United States and spend some time at home before going to Saudi Arabia for the WTA Finals.
"I think I'm going to go home just because it's been long. I think I've been here, like, four weeks. Two weeks is kind of when we have to leave for Riyadh," the American said.
The inaugural edition of the WTA Finals in Riyadh will start on November 2nd and take place until November 9th.
When the season-ending tournament starts, the 20-year-old will be making her third consecutive appearance at the tournament. Gauff failed to make it past the WTA Finals group stage in 2022 but reached the semifinals last year.
