© Getty Images Sport – Matthew Stockman
Martina Navratilova is interested in seeing if Coco Gauff will make any tweaks to her forehand in the offseason as the tennis icon believes improving the forehand shot could help the 19-year-old further elevate her game. In the first half of the 2023 season, players were evidently targeting Gauff’s forehand, and some were pretty openly saying that it was their tactic.
However, after adding Brad Gilbert to her team at the start of the North American hard court, Gauff had much more confidence in her forehand shot and the American ended up winning her first Grand Slam and WTA 1000 titles at the US Open and Cincinnati.
But Navratilova still sees certain issues in Gauff’s forehand – mostly in the technical area.
Navratilova says Gauff can elevate her game by improving her forehand
“The next step for Coco? What happens with the forehand? Will she start hitting more forehands down the line or rolling it crosscourt? Late in the season, I noticed she was hitting those loopy forehands more often.
I really look forward to what [coach] Brad [Gilbert] tries to do — if he tries to change the forehand and her extreme western grip. Because when she was trying to hit low balls with her [existing grip] the ball sometimes was bouncing before it got to the net.
I think that’s where the grip is so limiting — it’s physically impossible to get under the ball when it’s that low with that grip. Change it to make it a little bit easier to hit those low balls — or maybe she just learns to re-grip and use a slightly different stroke.
One of those two things has to happen because it’s just too much of a handicap — she misses too many balls when they’re really low,” Navratilova told the WTA website. This week, Gauff posted a gym photo. Gauff’s 2023 season finished less than two weeks ago but the American is already preparing for the 2024 season.
