Coco Gauff has continued to struggle on grass ahead of Wimbledon this year.
Gauff lost her only singles match at the Berlin Open, where she was beaten by Paula Badosa.
Despite being a two-time Grand Slam champion, Gauff has not won a singles match on grass since 2024.
As she looks to return to winning ways on grass again at Wimbledon this year, Andy Roddick has highlighted the issue he thinks Gauff has on the surface.
Andy Roddick explains why Coco Gauff’s movement is not as good on grass
Gauff’s forehand issues are very public and have been ongoing for some time on all surfaces.
However, Gauff is known as one of the best movers on the entire WTA Tour, but Roddick does not believe this is the case on grass.
In the latest edition of his ‘Served with Andy Roddick‘ podcast, Roddick explained why Gauff’s movement is not as effective on grass.
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“This surface is going to be a struggle and you’re going to hear a lot about it,” said Roddick. “The forehand needs to be turned over, she needs to get under the ball to create that spin mechanism, her movement isn’t as good on grass because she can’t screech and get back, so it’s tougher to play defence on grass without a natural chip. It’s not like Roger [Federer] playing defence on grass.
“And the forehand, she has to flatten it out more, she doesn’t like flattening out that forehand…Her stock forehand is like looped, so it’s going to go six feet above the net and bounce above someone’s shoulder, and then they try to play offence on that ball and it goes to her backhand and she screeches and is moving and she can get off the mark quick.
“Grass is a little more nuanced, you’re going to see people split and they’re going to look like a baby giraffe in one direction or the other, you saw [Victoria] Mboko unfortunately became a victim of this and now can’t play Wimbledon.
“But you’re going to see it a lot, you have to run through the ball, the stops have to be a little gentler and then you’ve got to sprint out of those stops. It’s not the same as like a clay or a hard court.
“Coco’s movement is the best on earth and that movement isn’t as good on grass, because she can’t be as aggressive with that movement. She has to hit the shot and then she has to adjust the flight path on her forehand a lot.”
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Many have suggested that Gauff’s draw at Wimbledon this year provides her with reason for hope.
Gauff lost in the first round of Wimbledon last year, and she will be hoping to avoid doing the same again when she takes on world number 79 Tamara Korpatsch.
The first seeded player Gauff could play is her compatriot Ann Li, with Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula and Belinda Bencic also in her half of the draw.
Due to Gauff’s struggles on grass over the past year, the world number seven has a big opportunity to gain ranking points on her biggest rivals.
Gauff will begin her 2026 Wimbledon campaign on Tuesday, June 30 against the aforementioned Korpatsch.
