Tour Strokes: Coco Gauff Forehand

When we put up two high speed video clips of Coco Gauff’s forehand up in the Interactive Forum two months ago it drew almost 1000 views and a lot of thoughtful discussion. (Click Here to see the full clips.)

The forehand appears to be her weaker or at least less consistent side. The discussion centered on why.

Her backswing is definitely larger than the compact so-called ATP backswings. But it’s very similar to Serena Williams who has one of the greatest forehands in the history of women’s tennis.

One difference with Serena though is that Gauff tilts the racket tip more forward toward the opponent during the mid part of the backswing. That element is similar to Naomi Osaka, another great WTA forehand player. But at the completion of the backswing Serena and Coco look similar.

But Madison keys who has the biggest woman’s forehand points the racket tip straight up in the backswing and goes further behind the body than either Serena, Naomi, or Coco.

What about the left arm stretch? In the first clip Coco separates her hands a little sooner than the other players, but her left arm stretch is about the same as Serena or Naomi…