Coco Gauff acknowledges she is perfectly aware that the strategy against her is to target her forehand side but also adds that she has upped her aggressiveness on that side so her rivals don’t feel as comfortable doing that.
When the American was going through a crisis in 2023, many identified her forehand as the weakness that was being exploited by her rivals. At the time, a couple of WTA players publicly shared that their tactic was to put as many balls as possible on the 20-year-old’s forehand side.
While Gauff has since won a Grand Slam title, a WTA 1000 title, and the WTA Finals, some still believe that her forehand side remains a weakness.
So far in Indian Wells, the home favorite beat Moyuka Uchijima 6-4 3-6 7-6 (4) and Maria Sakkari 7-6 (1) 6-2.
In her post-match presser after beating the Greek, the 2023 US Open champion was told by a reporter that Uchijima told them her strategy was to target her forehand – but didn’t want to overdo on it because she felt she would be “trapped” and punished if she kept only going for that side.
Gauff: I know the game plan against me… I’m glad to hear my opponent felt trapped
“Obviously that’s the game plan against me, and I would say since the end of last year I have been playing more aggressively on that side, so I think people just don’t feel comfortable necessarily just putting a ball there. If I get a neutral ball, especially on that end of the court. On these courts I try to be aggressive with it,” the world No. 3 explained.
Yeah, I think that’s kind of the goal. So, yeah, I’m glad to kind of hear my opponent felt trapped on that… So I have just been working on that, and that was kind of the goal, like, today. And eventually people attack one and you kind of get used to it at this point.”
In the Indian Wells round-of-16, Gauff plays against Belinda Bencic.
Tennis World USA