Coco Gauff made a real step forward in Madrid, having struggled with form recently.
The American star had failed to reach a tour-level semi-final all year before making the trip to Spain for the Madrid Open.
Finding her best tennis on the clay, Gauff reached the final of the Madrid Open, securing several impressive wins over the likes of Mirra Andreeva and Iga Swiatek.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images
She was unable to pick up her first title of the season, however, as Gauff lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the final, 3-6, 6-7.
Speaking ahead of her return to action in Rome, one ATP Tour legend has spoken about an improvement in Gauff’s game he noticed recently.
Andy Roddick says Coco Gauff’s recent forehand improvements reminded him of Andy Murray
Speaking on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, former world number one Andy Roddick shared his thoughts on a change Gauff made to her forehand in Madrid.
“The forehand looked great this week,” he said.
“I know we talk about the fade away. What I saw as the major adjustment for Coco [Gauff] was her not trying to run around and hit flat inside outs. That’s not her shot shape.
“Or trying to hit flat down the line and force that ball in there, that’s not her shot shape.”
Roddick said her forehand adjustment reminded him of a change another former world number one made.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
“Similar to the adjustment that [Andy] Murray made when he first started working with [Ivan] Lendl, she was opening up the shoulders, and when she was getting aggressive, she was going with her natural shot shape, which is flattening up the ball cross court,” he said.
“She doesn’t flatten it out that well inside out, and she doesn’t flatten that forehand super well up the line.
“But if you know she is going to open the shoulders cross-court, it does two things.
“One is that the threat is there so you can’t just pin her in the forehand side and two, what that does, is that you have to take two steps to the right so all of a sudden her natural shot shape, which is that looper up the line, becomes way more effective.”
Roddick believes the change was positive for Gauff and made a big claim about the quality of her forehand in Madrid.
Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images
“I think it was just a matter of being aggressive to the shots to the parts of the court you’re comfortable with and not trying to square peg, round hole against your shot shape,” he said.
“Big improvement for Coco, I thought that was as well as she had hit her forehand this year so far.”
Coco Gauff in three-way fight for world number two at the Italian Open
A win against Sabalenka in the final of the Madrid Open would’ve seen Gauff take Swiatek’s place as world number two.
It wasn’t to be, as she lost to the Belarusian in straight sets, although she’ll have another chance to return to her career-high ranking in Rome.
With the Pole defending 1,000 points having won the Italian Open title in 2024, she currently sits in fourth in the Live WTA rankings, behind Gauff and another American star.
Live WTA Rankings
At 31 years of age, Jessica Pegula could be just a few matches away from becoming world number two for the first time.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images
There are, of course, several different scenarios that could see all three players exchange places depending on their performances in the Italian capital.
World number two permutations in Rome
- If all three players lose their opening match, or Jessica Pegula outperforms Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek fails to reach the final – Jessica Pegula becomes world number two
- If Coco Gauff outperforms Jessica Pegula and Iga Swiatek fails to reach the final – Coco Gauff becomes world number two
- If Iga Swiatek reaches the final and Coco Gauff/Jessica Pegula fail to reach the quarterfinals – Iga Swiatek remains world number two
- If Iga Swiatek wins the Italian Open and Coco Gauff/Jessica Pegula fail to reach the final – Iga Swiatek remains world number two
It remains to be seen which of the trio heads into the French Open later this month as the number two seed, but it’ll certainly be worth tuning in for.
Gauff will begin her Italian Open campaign against either a qualifier or Arianna Zucchini, Pegula will play Ashlyn Krueger or a qualifier, and Swiatek gets underway against either Elisabetta Cocciaretto or Elina Avanesyan.