FOR SUCH an incredibly talented young player, world number three Coco Gauff has two major weaknesses in her game. The first is her serve, which she deliberately targeted at the end of the 2024 WTA Tour season by hiring technical coach Matt Daly to improve her high number of double faults that were costing her matches. While that seems to have significantly improved, her second major weakness – the forehand – has not.

In today’s analysis, we take a look at how her loss overnight to McCartney Kessler might have been a shock on paper, but was a result that was bubbling for some time, and added to recent disappointing form. The defeat made it three losses in a row since bowing out at the quarter finals stage of the Australian Open to Paula Badosa, with defeats in back-to-back WTA1000 tournaments to Marta Kostyuk and now Kessler.

MATCH REPORT

Quickly ascending her way up the pecking order in the United States, giant-killing American McCartney Kessler is having the tournament of her career in Dubai. Having accounted for the in-form Amanda Anisimova in round one with the world number 18 coming off a title in Doha, Kessler added third ranked Gauff to her list of scalps, collecting the first Top 10 win of her career overnight to reach the Round of 16.

Kessler won 6-4 7-5 against her top ranked compatriot, and even when she had the chance to serve for the match at 5-4 in the second set and failed, it did not dwell her confidence. She immediately broke back in the 11th game and then successfully served out the match in 91 minutes on Court 1.

It was far from easy, with Kessler – who has a 9-3 record in 2025 – surviving break points in her first two service games of the match, before converting her own first break of serve in the penultimate game, then went on to serve out the set.

An early break in set two off the jump had Kessler quickly on top, and while neither party looked like breaking again for some time, Gauff took her opportunity when 4-5 down to put it back on level terms. That celebration did not last long however as Kessler won eight of the next 11 points to close out the match and book her place in the second round.

Kessler finished with a marginally higher dominance ratio of 1.10 compared to Gauff’s 0.91, hitting three more winners (15-12) compared to six less unforced errors (38-44). Gauff’s inconsistent serve was not too bad, producing four aces and only one double fault, but she did only split the difference off her second serve (14/28) compared to Kessler’s 63 per cent (19/30).

Unsurprisingly though, Gauff’s biggest weakness – her forehand consistency – flared up again, with 77 per cent of her unforced errors coming off that wing. She hit a whopping 34 forehand unforced errors – amongst 42 total errors – while only producing five winners.

Gauff’s struggling forehand is nothing new, but in recent weeks it has been on the downward spiral. We look at the numbers in detail.

COCO GAUFF – A FAILING FOREHAND

Opponent in Loss	SCORE	FH WIN	FH UE	FH FE	FH ERR	FH +/-
McCartney Kessler (Dubai 1000, R32)	4-6 5-7	5	34	8	42	-37
Marta Kostyuk (Doha 1000, R32)	2-6 5-7	3	21	9	30	-27
Paula Badosa (Aus Open GS, QF)	5-7 4-6	17	31	12	43	-26
Totals from past three losses		25	86	29	115	-90
Averages from past three losses		8.3	28.7	9.7	38.3	-30
Opponent in Win	SCORE	FH WIN	FH UE	FH FE	FH ERR	FH +/-
Belinda Bencic (Aus Open GS, R16)	5-7 6-1 6-1	20	25	9	34	-14
Leylah Fernandez (Aus Open GS, R32)	6-4 6-2	7	13	9	22	-15
Jodie Burrage (Aus Open GS, R64)	6-3 7-5	3	2	17	19	-16
Sofia Kenin (Aus Open GS, R128)	6-3 6-3	6	15	4	19	-13
Totals from Aus Open wins		36	55	39	94	-58
Averages from Aus Open wins		9.0	13.8	9.8	23.5	14.5

Essentially what the above table shows us is when Gauff is playing well, she averages around the teens in forehand winner-to-unforced error ratio. While her high-risk, high-reward style will always result in Gauff producing more errors than winners, ideally to be a Grand Slam winner, you would be hoping for numbers in the single digits. But as Gauff showed in her wins through the Aus Open, she was able to get by with a mid-teens result.

However the loss to Badosa seemed to be a step back. Then after a break, she has hit just eight forehand winners in the past fortnight compared to 72 errors. That alone is an average of minus-33 and of great cause for concern. To put her number of errors in her past three matches (90) in perspective, Madison Keys hit less forehand errors (87) across seven Australian Open matches en route to the title.

Bar the now world number five’s minus-23 against Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the second round, and she was minus-16 or lower across the board, including a couple of minus-nine’s along the way. Her tournament average was minus-10.7, almost 20 less errors per match on average than Gauff.

WHAT CAN WE DRAW FROM THAT ANALYSIS?

Keys’ weapon is without a doubt her forehand, but like Gauff, she has been inconsistent over the years and struggled to maintain her form. The run at the Australian Open – which statistically was the hardest draw in history – was an incredible sustained performance across seven matches.

Of course Gauff is already a Grand Slam winner, having won the 2023 US Open and last year’s WTA Finals. The latter came after implementing Daly as her serving coach, and Gauff won the first nine matches of 2025. However the Gauff of old has begun to creep back in the last three and there is a slight cause for concern in the way her level has dipped.

Still only 20 years-old, Gauff has achieved more than most will during their entire careers, and the analysis is certainly no shade on her ability or what she could become. If she can alter that forehand to be more efficient, then she could very easily win many more Grand Slams – even into the double-digits given her sheer talent and all-round ability.

WHAT CAN COCO DO?

Gauff is a high intensity player who can close out points quickly, but while that can also win her some cheap points, it can also cost her. One such great analysis of Gauff’s forehand comes from John Yandell who saw the similarities in the American’s style compared to her idol, Serena Williams. While Williams boasted one of the best forehands in history, Gauff’s has the potential to get there with some tweaks.

In his analysis, Yandell described Gauff’s issue seems to come from “tilting the racket tip more forward toward the opponent during the backswing”. That element is not too dissimilar to Keys’ style, who again has one of the most deadly forehands on Tour, but has had the inconsistency issues.

It means that Gauff is on the right track, however her timing – be it in preparation for the shot or the follow through – needs further fine tuning.

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

Gauff is a wonderfully talented player who will no doubt go on to win plenty more titles and realistically a stack more Grand Slam trophies as well. Her deep understanding of what needs improving in her game is fantastic for her age, and she has already addressed her major serving weakness. Next up could be that forehand adjustment. In a dream scenario, she may well lean on Williams – if available – to further improve that shot and when she does, the rest of the Tour needs to watch out.

2025 DUBAI TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS – DAY 3 RESULTS:

[1] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) defeated [Q] Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) 6-3 6-4
[2] Iga Swiatek (POL) defeated Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 6-0 6-2
McCartney Kessler (USA) defeated [3] Coco Gauff (USA) 6-4 7-5
[4] Jasmine Paolini (ITA) defeated [Q] Eva Lys (GER) 6-2 7-5
[5] Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated Liudmila Samsonova (RUS) 6-0 6-4
[6] Elena Rybakina (KAZ) defeated [Q] Moyuka Uchijima (JPN) 6-3 6-2
[9] Paula Badosa (ESP) defeated Elise Mertens (BEL) 6-2 6-1
Linda Noskova (CZE) defeated [11] Diana Shnaider (RUS) 7-6 4-6 6-3
[14] Karolina Muchova (CZE) defeated [WC] Emma Raducanu (GBR) 7-6 6-4
Clara Tauson (DEN) defeated Elina Svitolina (UKR) 7-6 3-6 7-6
[WC] Sofia Kenin (USA) defeated Marta Kostyuk (UKR) 5-7 7-6 7-6
Dayana Yastremska (UKR) defeated Anastasia Potapova (RUS) 6-2 6-3