Coco Gauff urged by former Grand Slam winner to take drastic step following US Open exit

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Coco Gauff has been advised to take the rest of the year off following her loss to Naomi Osaka at the US Open.

The 6-3, 6-2 result does not fully capture how one-sided it was, with Osaka not facing a single break point throughout the match.

Gauff’s struggle with unforced errors continued to be an issue, something that has been a recurring problem in her game despite efforts to address it.

She has taken steps to fix this part of her game, but we have not seen much progress yet. The next few months will be important in showing whether those changes start to take effect.

Coco Gauff advised to take extended break following US Open defeat

Rennae Stubbs, speaking on her own podcast, explained why she does not think there is enough time for Gauff to make the changes needed before the end of the season. She did not hold back in saying that a more drastic approach might be what is required.

Stubbs said: “Coco is not comfortable. She is fighting demons, she is fighting her serve and her forehand.

“Gavin has come in to try and do his best to correct some of the stuff, but that is impossible to do in a week. It’s impossible.

“Especially when they are really egregious. Her grip and technique is really tough to change in a week.

“I think she should take the entire rest of the year off. The whole rest of the year off and break every single thing down.”

The four-time Grand Slam doubles champion also pointed out how complete Osaka looked by comparison:

“Today, we saw a more complete tennis player in Naomi Osaka,” she continued.

“She has a more complete serve, a better grip on her groundstrokes, her forehand, her backhand. She knows what she is doing. She sees a short ball and knows where she is going with it.

“With the way Coco is, it’s like she does not know whether to go high with the forehand or loopy.

“I mean, match point was just a basic forehand in the middle of the net. So it’s like Naomi is a more complete tennis player right now. She is playing better.

“Coco cannot use just her speed on the court when you are playing someone who is going to hit you from side to side and not really miss and hit it really well.”

• READ MORE: Naomi Osaka’s resurgence continues under coach Tomasz Wiktorowski at US Open

Taking time away from the tour could help Gauff in the long run

While stepping away for the rest of the year might be a drastic move, there is no doubt that a bit more selective scheduling could do Gauff some good.

It is tough to overhaul parts of her game while she is constantly in competition mode, focused on immediate results rather than long-term development.

This US Open did not offer her much in terms of progress. If anything, it exposed areas that still need work.

That is why taking time off now might turn out to be a positive. Skipping a few events to spend more time training with MacMillan could end up being far more valuable than trying to play through them.