American tennis player Coco Gauff expressed her willingness to embrace discomfort in order to enhance her skills, emphasizing that her challenges with her revamped serve ahead of the French Open would ultimately contribute to her long-term development.
Gauff, the US Open champion, encountered difficulties with accuracy while serving during the initial stages of this year's claycourt swing, recording an average of approximately 10 double faults across five matches played in Stuttgart and Madrid.
In her quest to bolster her performance, Gauff has been striving to adopt a more aggressive approach with her first serve and has implemented alterations to her technique.
"I feel like, overall, if I want to be the player that I want to become, I have to be uncomfortable and make changes to my game, not just to my serve, but other things, as well," 2022 Roland Garros runner-up Gauff told reporters on Friday.
"I have been trying to improve it with every tournament, from the start of the clay to Rome. My last match it was a lot better in terms of percentage and the double faults. I think I'm confident.
"I feel like it's getting better but it's obviously a shot that is tough to change because when you're tight you revert back to what you know works. Sometimes it's tough to push yourself to do the uncomfortable things which you know in the long term are better for you."
The 20-year-old's performances improved markedly in this month's Italian Open and she reached the semi-finals, where she lost to eventual winner Iga Swiatek.
Gauff said her run had given her a much-needed boost in confidence.
"I have been here for a couple days now, and I feel like I have been preparing great," she said.
"Had a good tournament in Rome, so I'm excited, hope I can have good vibes here.
"Last week I felt like from the start of the week till the end of the week I improved a lot. It gave me a lot of confidence for this tournament."
Gauff will face a qualifier in the first round of the French Open which begins on May 26.
(With Reuters inputs)
