Tim Henman thought Coco Gauff looked "confused" and too focused on her new serve technique, and that made it impossible for the American to play her best tennis against Naomi Osaka.
In what was expected to be a highlight of round-of-16 action at the US Open quickly turned into a one-sided battle as Osaka controlled the match from start to finish to complete a 6-3 6-2 win. The Japanese tennis star was impressive, realizing all of her four break points, all while not facing a single break point. On the other side, the third-seeded home player was abysmal with her level, committing 33 unforced errors in just over an hour of play.
Gauff, who hired a biomechanics coach to help her fix her serve just seven days before the start of the US Open, had three aces and five double faults. While the 21-year-old didn't have her double-fault number in double digits, that didn't help much since she still didn't manage to do much with her serve.
Henman: Gauff's confused, focusing so much on her serve… She needs to decompress
Reflecting on the match on Sky Sports, Henman noted that Osaka looked sharp and locked in right out of the gate.
“When you think about the other end of the court with Gauff it just looks like she’s so confused out there. It’s so stressful. She’s focusing so much on her serve, as we all are, when you’ve got that type of mindset, it’s very difficult to play your best tennis, especially against a world-class player who is making life difficult for you," the former British player added on Sky Sports.
“Gauff is such a good competitor, but you saw at the end of the match that she couldn’t wait to get off that court quick enough. We’ve seen the emotion on the court, in tears at times. It’s been almost traumatic at times. She needs a little bit of time away from this environment to decompress and contemplate her next move.”
In her post-match presser, Gauff said her focus for the rest of 2025 would be on "improvements" and not the results.
