Coco Gauff won the first of her two Grand Slam singles titles at the 2023 US Open
The sight of a forlorn Coco Gauff hitting serves in the rain on the US Open practice courts became the defining image of her struggles last year.
The serving yips were undermining the two-time major champion's talent. Staying out in the persistent drizzle was a sign of how desperate she had become to iron out the major flaw in her game.
Twelve months on, the 22-year-old American has returned to the US Open with a rejuvenated service game – and it was the bedrock of her 6-3 6-4 win over Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez in the New York first round on Tuesday.
Gauff starting with a swift hold to love set the tone for a dominant first set, then used her opening shot to get her out of trouble when Sonmez threatened to go a break up in the second set.
"Now it's like I can look back a year on and think, 'Oh, wow, it's a big difference'," said Gauff, who is seeded fourth at Flushing Meadows this year.
"It feels good to come into a tournament feeling confident on that shot finally."
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On the eve of her home Slam last year, Gauff decided to reshuffle her coaching team and hired biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan – who helped four-time major champion Aryna Sabalenka overcome serving troubles earlier in her career.
It was a drastic move. But one which Gauff felt was unavoidable after hitting a high amount of double faults at the preceding Cincinnati Open.
Tweaking technique heading into the US Open – where she receives frenzied attention – was always going to be a risk.
So it was no surprise when Gauff suffered a fourth-round exit in a tournament where she looked fraught throughout and was reduced to tears during matches.
"Obviously last year I knew all the eyes were going to be on the serve," Gauff said.
"Gavin is so great at what he does, I felt a lot of pressure to kind of prove that. It didn't really show within the first two weeks, which is normal."
