Much has been said about the forehand of Coco Gauff and the need to change it, but one former WTA player doesn’t think it’s needed.
As Gauff struggled in the first half of this year, more and more people pointed out her forehand as the issue. It’s not the best forehand in the world and likely not one of the better ones, but it can get the job done when she confidently swings it.
We’ve seen that at the US Open, where she won the trophy. It’s good enough essentially, which is why it doesn’t need to change, according to former player Pam Shriver. She talked to the WTA about the 2024 season, saying that Gauff doesn’t need a better forehand to win many Grand Slams.
I was concerned about Coco, and then just look how she finished out the summer. I feel like the voice of BG helped her enormously. That was probably the most important thing. Does he alter her forehand grip? I don’t think he’s going to mess with it too much. He’s preaching positive thoughts and good habits.
We’ll have to wait a few more weeks to see whether something in her forehand changed. Brad Gilbert himself talked about it earlier this year, saying that he doesn’t see a need to change it too much, especially as she won a Grand Slam.
That’s not what some other people said, so we’ll see. Ultimately, it will be Gauff’s call and what she thinks. History has shown us plenty of great players without signature forehands, even though it helps.
I would add that there have been a lot of great tennis champions who didn’t have a devastating forehand — Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Stefan Edberg, for example. And there were some times where Venus Williams’ forehand sometimes broke down under attack.
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