Coco Gauff‘s US Open title defense is still alive! The defending champ took on Germany’s Tatjana Maria in the R2 of the 2024 US Open. 

She’s won the first set by 6-4, but interestingly she has looked a bit shaky. 

Although she managed to pull things in her favor and win the match by 6-4, 6-0, she committed quite a few errors against the German. 

Fans were a bit surprised to see how Maria (99) gave her a tough time in the courts where she won the title last year. 

Nick Kyrgios recently put a tweet asking for opinions on Gauff’s struggles in this match.

He wrote, “TIGHT first set on Ashe between COCO and MARIA – even with the struggles on the gauff serve she managed to snag it – what do you all think?” 

Gauff has hit just 1 ace in this match but has committed 9 double faults. Several fans have come out in numbers showcasing their concern for the 20-year-old American star.

She struggled to get her first serve right throughout the opening set. Just in the first set itself, she committed 7 double faults and 20 unforced errors. Her body language wasn’t up to the mark and she was seen frequently looking at her guest box and wondering, “What’s going on?” Gauff, frustrated during that phase, put her hand on her hip on multiple occasions. However, things changed in the second set. She put together 15 winners and committed only 5 unforced errors. It wasn’t a perfect match, as per her standards, but thankfully for Gauff she still managed to win quite comprehensively.

Kyrgios conducted an on-court interview with her after the match. During that interview, Gauff admitted, “I can serve better. That first set would have been a lot easier.” Gauff has been a big admirer of Kyrgios over the years, perhaps now she’d also have to take some tips from Kyrgios. In September 2022 during a conversation, she was heard saying, “I think he (Kyrgios) has a great serve.” She also revealed how happy she was to get a chance to interact with the Aussie tennis star.

“He told me good things about my game. At that time I’m like, ‘Nick Kyrgios thinks I’m a good player.’ You start to believe that and gain confidence in that,” said the 20-year-old. However, this time perhaps Kyrgios wasn’t too impressed with her game, and neither were the fans!

Fans aren’t too pleased with Coco Gauff’s performance so far in the R2 match at the US Open

This isn’t the first time that Coco Gauff has been heavily criticized for her playing style. In May this year, Serena Williams‘ former coach, Rennae Stubbs said, “Billie Jean King always says bad technique breaks down under pressure. And she [Coco] has bad technique on her serve, particularly the second serve, and the forehand to a degree. So under pressure, it’s going to break down. So I see it in her face.” Now, seeing her struggle with the first serve as well in this match, one of the fans wrote, “She’s lucky she’s playing someone who isn’t at her level or else she’d be toast.”

Gauff has hit 277 double faults this season! And if we look at her numbers from this tournament, she has committed 15 double faults as of now in just two matches. Coco Gauff won 72% of her first serve and 63% of her second serve in the first match, but in the second match, she could only manage to win 67% of her first serve and 77% of her second serve. Seeing such a downfall in her serve a fan wrote, “Gauff’s title defense is in jeopardy if she can’t string together consistent first serves.”

Previously, we heard her coach Brad Gilbert say how he gets “bombarded with texts” calling for him to “fix” her forehand and grip as well. Jimmy Arias once highlighted how these things can affect Gauff’s mental. He said, “It’s going to be difficult because now it’s mental too. She hears about it all the time. So there is a combination of things that makes it more difficult.” Do these things play on her mind during her matches? One of the fans felt, “It’s her confidence and she’s been mentally out of it the entire match.”

After seeing her struggles in this match another one wrote, “Reminds me of Hsieh Su-wei and Roberta Vinci. Maddening for the other player. Luckily, Coco seems to have figured out Maria even though she hasn’t served well at all.” This was Gauff’s second meeting with Maria. She previously defeated her 6-4, 6-1 in the R32 of the 2023 ASB Classic. Even in that match, her double fault counts were more than the number of aces.

Coco Gauff will next play a stronger opponent (Elina Svitolina) in the third round. She needs to come up with a better performance to beat the former world number 3. However, fans feel her match against Maria was literally full of “Low-quality stats.” Share your thoughts on Gauff’s performance in the R2.

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Source: USA Today