Coco Gauff is fixing her serve to start the U.S. Open – and the rest of her tennis career

Tennis

U.S. Open

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — There comes a time in every tennis player’s career when they have to do something that truly scares them, something that cuts against how they have played the sport for a very long time. They’ve exhausted all the minor tweaks and cosmetic fixes. Now they have to do the hard reset.

Jannik Sinner had to give up on playing like a human backboard and lean into crushing the ball. Iga Świątek had to stop trying to crush every ball and lean back into the patience that first took her to the top.

Making adjustments like those in the middle of a Hall-of-Fame career is no small thing. They can involve fundamental changes in how a player holds the racket, swings the racket, or makes contact with a ball on any number of shots.