Coco Gauf’s Second Serve: A Technical Analysis

What does high speed video show about Coco’s 2nd serve? There’s been a lot of interest in Coco Gauf since she exploded on to the tennis scene as a young teenager, and in her ascent to the top levels of the game, culminating in her 2023 U.S. Open victory. Her game is built around power and she uses it well on both serves and groundstrokes. But, even though she’s able to hit with impressive power, her serve has come under scrutiny, particularly her 2nd serve. After analyzing her 2nd serve motion using high speed slow motion video, I’ve discovered some very interesting aspects of her technique. It’s amazing how little the human eye sees versus the reality of super slow motion video motion. So I will focus my attention on multiple aspects of her motion and also compare her technique with two of the great servers in the game: Milos Raonic and Jannick Sinner. On balance when we look at her technical motion it’s amazing she serves as well as she does. Look at Coco’s knee bend when her tossing arm extends compared to Milos and Jannik. Toss Notice how Coco has released the ball and her legs have barely…