Article - Coco Gauff's Forehand problem - Her junior coaches perspective

[seano]

https://www.thetennisgazette.com/news/coco-gauffs-junior-coach-has-a-theory-on-when-problems-with-her-forehand-began-as-he-expresses-shock-with-brad-gilberts-comments/

[jeffreycounts]

Great find Sean. John spoke with Brad and told him about her forehand and, like the article, said did not want to touch it. So interesting that her forehand was her dominant shot as a junior. Now her backhand is one of the best in the world while the forehand is a liability. I mean it's a good shot, but it needs adjustments for sure. Really interesting read.

[arturohernandez]

Great find Sean. John spoke with Brad and told him about her forehand and, like the article, said did not want to touch it. So interesting that her forehand was her dominant shot as a junior. Now her backhand is one of the best in the world while the forehand is a liability. I mean it's a good shot, but it needs adjustments for sure. Really interesting read.

But I think there is a problem here, one that Lansdorp would have addressed. His philosophy was that tennis was about dealing with balls that were coming in at a player quickly and that they were skidding. Pete found a way to adapt his very conservative forehand grip to deal with these types of balls. Then in matches as a pro he was able to handle them.

When Coco was a junior the balls came in slowly and she had time to hit a big shot. But then the game speed increased as she got older. The extreme grip and all the other things became liabilities. She did not have the time to hit that same forehand at 16 that she had at 13.

The western grip is always susceptible to a skidding shot. Compare all forehands to Ash Barty. This looks roughly like Fed's forehand grip. To me she had the most Fed like game of the WTA. I cannot think of any WTA forehands that looked like hers. It looked fluid and deceptive. She could slow it down and speed it up.

Not having the palm of your hand behind the ball makes it SO much harder to hit it well. It can be done but I feel there is a cost. Barty with an extreme Eastern/SW is pretty much ideal.

Coco will always be susceptible on the forehand side because the grip structure is not ideal. Khachanov has a similar problem for the men. Just too hard to keep hitting ball after ball with an arm that is tied up like a pretzel to hit a ball that is coming in very fast.

2 Cents from a Monday morning tennis coach.


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[jimlosaltos]

2 Cents from a Monday morning tennis coach.


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Don't undersell yourself. Worth a Benjamin at least

Good points IMHO. I like comparing Ash and Fed.

[jeffreycounts]

When Coco was a junior the balls came in slowly and she had time to hit a big shot. But then the game speed increased as she got older. The extreme grip and all the other things became liabilities. She did not have the time to hit that same forehand at 16 that she had at 13.

That's a very good point. I totally agree.