Coco Gauff reveals why she is purposely serving slower at US Open

Coco Gauff likened the process of reworking her serve to learning a new language, as she battled through her opening match at the US Open. The American tennis sensation had to dig deep in her first-round clash against Ajla Tomljanovic at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night. Despite losing the second-set tiebreak, Gauff managed to clinch a dramatic 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5 victory.

Gauff, who has already amassed impressive career earnings and a substantial net worth, managed to overcome her serving struggles and nerves to secure the win. However, the young star has been grappling with a challenging run of form recently, particularly with her service game.

Following her French Open triumph earlier this year, the 21-year-old suffered a first-round defeat at Wimbledon to Dayana Yastremska, followed by a surprising loss to Victoria Mboko at the Canadian Open. Her woes continued when she was defeated by Jasmine Paolini in Cincinnati, leading to a moment of frustration where the two-time Grand Slam champion smashed her racket.

In an attempt to rectify her service issues, Gauff parted ways with coach Matt Daly on the eve of the US Open and enlisted the help of Gavin MacMillan. However, in her first match under her new team, Gauff committed 10 double faults as her serves remained inconsistent.

Ultimately, revamping one's serve mechanics is no easy feat - a sentiment Gauff agreed with, comparing it to learning a new language.

"Yeah, it's like learning a new language, honestly," Gauff admitted. "Like looking at tagged posts of me and sending- me and Gavin sending each other things back and forth like, 'Oh, this picture looks good. This one doesn't look as good.'

"Yeah, I think for me I'm trying to not become as obsessed with it, but it is a bit because I know that this is the part of my game that needs to improve if I want to get the results that I want to receive.

"I'm someone that I'm not making any excuses. It's not a mental thing. It's a biomechanical thing that I had wrong, and I'm just trying my best to get it right."

Gauff also rubbished claims that her fresh approach has resulted in a weaker serve, insisting the reduced pace was deliberate.

She continued: "It's a personal choice to serve slower. If I want to get up, I can. A couple of times I think I hit 115 or 114, around that range.

"No, it's a personal choice and not anything I was told. So yeah, I know if I need my serve to get up, I can get it up, but it's about making sure I stay in the motion that we worked on."

Gauff will face Donna Vekic in the second round of the US Open on Thursday, August 28.