US Open: Serena Williams addresses calls to ‘change’ Coco Gauff’s forehand and serve

Serena Williams has shared her thoughts on whether Coco Gauff should make changes to her forehand and serve as the American exited the 2024 US Open.

The tennis icon thinks the Gauff serve “can obviously be better”, but argued her compatriot does not need to adjust her forehand as she highlighted “confidence” as the key.

Gauff’s US Open title defence came to an end with a 3-6, 6-4, 3-6 loss to world No 12 Emma Navarro in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows.

The 20-year-old star was hamstrung by serving issues in the match as she made only 46% of her first serves and hit 19 double faults.

The American’s forehand, meanwhile, is a shot some analysts have identified as a weakness she must improve throughout her career to date.

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During the world No 3’s defeat to Navarro, Williams was asked if Gauff needs to make any technical changes to her serve or forehand.

“I feel like she has a good serve,” the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion told ESPN. “I think that it can obviously be better, but I feel like she’s so young. She has the rest of her career to just improve.

“I wouldn’t change anything on her forehand. I’ve seen a lot of interesting forehands. And listen, if you’re just confident in whatever you have, keep it up, and just be confident about it.

“That’s literally all she needs to do is just have confidence, whether she’s hitting it with her wrist or elbow. Just have confidence doing it.”

The former world No 1 was also full of praise for Navarro’s game and expressed particular admiration for the 22-year-old American’s variety.

“I like the variety in Emma’s game,” Williams said. “I never was a variety player, so whenever I see someone like her that slices the ball or has a lot of spin on her forehand, I really admire that because it was something I never really did.