A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
It's a new year and a new look for the American tennis phenom Coco Gauff. After a series of losses last year, Gauff switched up her technique, and now at the Australian Open, she's putting it to the test. Here's NPR's Becky Sullivan.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Last year should have been a great one for Gauff, who's perhaps the most promising American tennis player since the Williams sisters. She was fresh off her first Grand Slam title, ranks No. 3 in the world. By summer's end, she admitted it hadn't gone the way she wanted.
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COCO GAUFF: Yeah, I expect better, but at the end of the day, it happened, and I can - I know I can turn it around.
SULLIVAN: What happened is that after a promising start to the year, Gauff fell apart - a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon, then an upset at the Paris Summer Olympics. And throughout, a common theme - too many unforced errors, especially double faults on her serve.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: Fans groaning - another missed first serve.
SULLIVAN: Her problems came to a head in September, in the fourth round of the U.S. Open, the very tournament she'd won the year before. But this day was a bad one - 60 unforced errors, 19 double faults, all of them valuable points handed to her opponent. After the last one, Gauff bounced her racket off the court in frustration.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: That's 19.
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SULLIVAN: For years, Gauff has used an unusual forehand grip, and she had long struggled with her second serve - weaknesses that were being exposed. Afterward, a reporter asked if she'd consider hiring a special coach to address her technique.
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GAUFF: Yeah, I definitely want to look at other things 'cause I don't want to lose matches like this anymore.
SULLIVAN: Barely two weeks later, Gauff parted ways with her old coach, and soon after announced she'd hired a new one. Matt Daly, who played tennis at Notre Dame, then helped create a training device for players to perfect a technique known as the Continental grip. In tennis, changing your mechanics can be a monthslong project. She's seen improvements already. She won the WTA finals at the end of last year. And her new coach has helped with something even more fundamental, she says, her confidence.
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GAUFF: You know, when you step on court with confidence, it makes a big difference in your game. So just, you know, keeping things real, like, knowing that there's going to be good days and bad days and, you know, never making me feel judged because of that.
SULLIVAN: Now the first Grand Slam of 2025 has arrived. In Melbourne, at the Australian Open, Gauff swept through a tough opening round matchup on Monday. Gauff had nine double faults - not ideal, but nine's a lot better than 19, as she moves on to the second round. Becky Sullivan, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAMMAL HANDS' "RIDDLE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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