Brad Gilbert urges Coco Gauff to be more aggressive with her serve at the French Open

For the second year running, Gauff lost in the Italian Open final, as Elina Svitolina overcame the American 6-4 6-7 6-2 on Saturday in Rome.

The 22-year-old, who was beaten by Jasmine Paolini in last year's final, had a chance to go a double break up in the first set, but the Ukrainian roared back to take the opener.

Svitolina made it a hat-trick of wins in the Italian capital, while Gauff was left to rue taking just three of her 17 break points.

As Gilbert, who coached Gauff for just over a year between August 2023 to September 2024, pointed out, while her first serve was at 64.6%, her second serve success rate proved costly.

The former world No 4, who was Gauff's coach for her 2023 US Open triumph, said she "won ugly" all tournament long, before Svitolina bested her.

And despite taking on biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan last August to help overcome her serving troubles, Gilbert thinks there is more work to do with her delivery.

He said on Tennis Channel, "She's winning less than 40% of her second serve points on the year and won less than that in this final. In this match, she was uncharacteristic on break points. Three out of 17, and she's been breaking about 45% on the year.

"Coco has a big serve. And they're using her first serve now almost a lot of times to start the point. So we don't have to hit second serves. But a number that you look at for Coco, and you kind of scratch your head and go, 'This number's got to get better'.

"And it's amazing that she's winning despite it. She's winning less than 40% of her second serve points on the year. Won less than that in this final.

"And one ace. I feel like I would like to see her be a little more aggressive on her first serve, especially when she has leads. Because she can hit her serve 125mph, and I think it always ups your kind of mojo when you can drop a few aces or serve plus one."

However, Gilbert was quick to stress that while her serve needs improvement, Gauff may be the best athlete on the WTA Tour.

He added, "But I feel like now, obviously she's got great resilience. She moves better than any other woman. But you feel like maybe if she starts to use the serve a little more aggressively, I think she'll start to win some more free points, which she needs to do."

Gauff will hope her serve is at its best ahead of her French Open title defence.

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