Coco Gauff needs to change something soon to prevent her from having issues later on in her career according to Rennae Stubbs.
Gauff was at risk of dropping outside the top four of the WTA rankings ahead of the French Open, but she has prevented that from happening.
This includes winning a thrilling quarterfinal, where Gauff came from behind to beat Mirra Andreeva.
Gauff’s win over Andreeva was her third consecutive three set match at the Italian Open, and Stubbs has warned the American that it could cause an issue later on in her career.
Rennae Stubbs states the issue with Coco Gauff playing so many three set matches
Gauff continues to struggle with her serve in Rome, but has managed to dig deep to be within one match of the Italian Open final.
Six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Stubbs has pointed out the technical issue that Gauff has on her serve, as well as explaining why playing all these lengthy matches could have in the later years of her career.
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“Physically, right now she’s young. Right now she’s going to get away with this and she’s going to bounce right back, but when she gets to 28, 29, 30, 31 if she’s playing that long, those matches start to take their toll on your body,” Stubbs said on her podcast.
“And as fit and fast and as great an athlete as she is, she’s young, and the more miles she puts on her body on the tennis court, because stress affects your body differently, when she gets to 30, the knees will start to get a bit sorer, the hips will start to get a little bit tighter, the shoulders start to have to work a little bit too much. Those are the sort of things that she will have to start to really think about going forward.
“Listen for me, I’ve pointed out a few things technically, I don’t know if you ever notice this when she’s serving, if you watch where her hand is on her grip…so she has her finger up her grip like she’s pointing on the grip and I’m like get that thing down so you can get a little more wrist action.
“There’s little technical things, I know she’s working with Gavin MacMillan, love the guy, he’s a great guy, he’s obviously done terrific things for Sabalenka’s serve, but that’s the one little thing that I wish she’d change on her serve.”
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How much time has Coco Gauff spent on court compared to the other Italian Open semifinalists?
Gauff’s gruelling matches are even more evident when you compare her time spent on court compared to the other semifinalists at the Italian Open.
The two-time Grand Slam champion has spent nearly nine hours on court in her four singles matches in Rome so far.
This is over two hours more than any other of the other semifinalists, with Iga Swiatek the closest to Gauff in terms of time spent on court.
| Italian Open 2026 WTA Semifinalists | Time spent on court at the Italian Open |
| Coco Gauff | 527 minutes (8 hours and 47 minutes) |
| Sorana Cirstea | 360 minutes (6 hours) |
| Iga Swiatek | 375 minutes (6 hours and 15 minutes) |
| Elina Svitolina | 364 minutes (6 hours and 4 minutes) |
Sorana Cirstea, who beat Aryna Sabalenka in Rome, has spent the least time on court at the Italian Open this year and is actually Gauff’s next opponent.
Gauff beat Cirstea in Madrid and has won all three previous meetings against the Romanian, but fatigue could factor in when they meet in the Italian Open semifinals.
