Jim Courier remains highly optimistic about what the future holds for Coco Gauff, despite her damaging loss to Naomi Osaka last night.
This might be a controversial view for some, who will have been shocked to watch the American exited the US Open in such an unceremonious fashion.
She barely put up a fight against the two-time former champion in New York, who crushed her in every aspect of the game.
It was completely one-sided, and without context, there’d be little for Coco Gauff to feel positive about.
However, Courier, a self-proclaimed optimist, has explained why he is excited after what he saw and heard.
Jim Courier is optimistic for Coco Gauff
Speaking on Tennis Channel, he admitted: “I like her positivity on the back end of talking to her team and then pointing out, Hey, your serve was actually pretty good today. So the trajectory in this cauldron of pressure, she was improving, and she’ll go home now and keep working on it. It’s going to solidify.”
Courier then made a prediction about how Gauff’s progression will go across the next six months or so: “I think by the time she rolls into Melbourne for the next major, I don’t think the serve is really going to be something she’s going to worry about. She’s gonna have to be just as mindful with the forehand.”
He finished by outlining one fear he does have, but backs her to find a solution: “She goes a lot like this on her forehead. If you see a lot of what Osaka does, how her forehand does devastating work, she finishes over here, a lot. The hand is down.
“Coco’s hand, a lot of the time, the racket is pointing up to the sky. She’s not getting any penetration on the shot. That’s the next move for her, is develop more of this type of a forehand where, if she’s got her palm down at the finish, that’s gonna create more of a driving forehand that she can do damage with.
“Because right now, the only damage she can really do is with angles, right? She can get it off the court. She can’t really beat you through the court. Her backhand, she can.
“I think it’s exciting. I’m an optimistic person.”
In keeping with this positivity, Gauff made a promise to tennis fans after the match which will only support Courier’s claims.
Lindsay Davenport praises Naomi Osaka’s game plan vs Coco Gauff
Whilst Courier was keen to praise Gauff, Lindsay Davenport naturally had to give some flowers to Naomi Osaka.
After all, it was a comprehensive performance and a stunning result, born both of her technical and physical strength, as well as the tactical setup too.
She pointed out: “The first few rounds for Osaka, she was driving shots all over the court, the majority of her shots, she was using a forehand line. She was using her backhand cross. That worked for her in the first three rounds, but it was a much different Osaka in her match against Gauff. Very deliberate in her attack to the Gauff forehand.
Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
“And also try not to get Gauff too wide on that side, [she] was funnelling a lot of shots up the middle. So Gauff was forced to hit forehands from that right hip.
“And for Osaka, she forced Gauff to play forehands at least two-thirds of the time at about 67% for the match.”
This is not something every player is capable of, as Davenport continued: “A lot of players go out there to play Gauff, they’re not quite sure how to break down the forehand. They know they want to go to the forehand. Osaka was relentless.
“She was keeping her shots low. The second serve as well. She was sliding them into the forehand, but the forehand body, and Gauff just never got her contact point right, and Osaka knew exactly how she wanted to play it, then she executed it.”
AloJapan.com