“I feel you like nobody else” – Sabalenka sympathises with double-faulting Gauff
Gauff hit 21 double faults on Saturday during her three-set loss to Aryna Sabalenka in the Wuhan semi-finals
Coco Gauff, Wuhan 2024
Image Credit: Imago / Panoramic
Down match point at 5-4 in the final set, Coco Gauff hit a second serve into the net to give Aryna Sabalenka a three-set win and a ticket into the Wuhan Open final.
That double fault was Gauff’s 21st of the semi-final, which Sabalenka ended up winning 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. Gauff’s second serve has come under the scanner in recent times even as she reached fourth round of the US Open and won the title in Beijing last week.
Sabalenka was in the same position a few years ago. The Belarusian hit a ton of double faults during her matches a few years ago and then went on to work with a biomechanics coach to sort out the technical creases in her serve. No wonder that Sabalenka said she could feel Gauff’s pain from across the net during the semi-final on Saturday.
“I was playing that match thinking, like, Well, girl, I feel you. I feel you like nobody else. I know what she’s going through. This is really difficult. This is really tough,” the three-time Grand Slam winner said. “But I know that if she’ll be able to overcome this serve situation, she already one of the best players, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to be one of the greatest players.”
Sabalenka came from a set and a break down in the second to win and added that she wanted to keep putting pressure on Gauff’s serve.
“At some point in the second set when she was keep breaking me, I was like, Okay, I still have chances on her serve. I was just trying to put as much pressure on her as I can so she would go even crazier on her serve. Yeah, I think she just dropped her level on her serve. I just felt like, Okay, I still have some chances in this match. I was pushing myself so hard to put balls back on the other side as much as I could.”
Knowing that the score was the score with a part of my game playing really bad, I think it can give me a lot of positives.
Coco Gauff on her semi-final loss in Wuhan
Now working with a new coach, Gauff said she has been working on some new stuff on her serve and the double faults were only expected.
“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.” Gauff said. “I’m honestly, like, surprised of how well I was able to do with it. We weren’t expecting it. So 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.”
“I definitely think I tried to commit the whole way through. I think I did. Honestly today it didn’t go great, but it doesn’t take away the serving that I did well in Beijing. Honestly, really up until this week. I think I played seven sets, only got broken twice up until today. There’s a lot of positives to look forward to. I think today I gave it my all. Knowing that the score was the score with a part of my game playing really bad, I think it can give me a lot of positives.”
Gauff also added that knowing that other players, inclduing Sabalenka, have gone through the same issue and overcome it, does give her confidence.
“I know she had a similar double-faulting issue. It does give me confidence knowing that everybody – not everybody – but a lot of players go through this. Honestly, for me I’m not worried because I found the solution. I didn’t really have time to work on it. I’m really happy with how the last couple weeks went. I’m just trying to be positive from there.”
