Aryna Sabalenka offers Coco Gauff advice after she fell apart in Wuhan Open loss

Aryna Sabalenka offered some advice to Coco Gauff after beating the American in a rollercoaster match at the Wuhan Open.

The 20-year-old looked to be cruising to victory when she led Sabalenka 6-1 4-2. But the top seed stormed back to win in three sets as Gauff collapsed when the double faults started to sneak into her game. 

Sabalenka knows exactly what it’s like to have a major issue with her serve. And she had some words of wisdom for her opponent after winning 1-6 6-4 6-4.

The world No. 2 has an unbeaten record in Wuhan, lifting the title in 2018 and 2019 before the tournament took a five-year absence. Her win streak has continued into 2024, though Sabalenka almost suffered her first defeat in the Chinese city.

But Gauff’s game unravelled when she was suddenly broken in the second set after hitting three double faults in one game. It’s a feeling the Belarusian knows all too well.

A few years ago, Sabalenka was the one struggling with her serve. She hired a biomechanics coach in 2022 and has won three Grand Slam titles since.

Asked what it was like to face someone going through similar serving issues, the 26-year-old said: “I was playing that match thinking, like, Well, girl, I feel you. I feel you like nobody else.

“I know what she's going through. This is really difficult. This is really tough. But I know that if she'll be able to overcome this serve situation, she already one of the best players, but I'm pretty sure she's going to be one of the greatest players.”

Now that Sabalenka has come out the other side of her own serving yips, she knew she could apply some pressure on Gauff to get back in the match. She continued: “I mean, how did it feel?

“At some point in the second set when she was keep breaking me, I was like, Okay, I still have chances on her serve. I was just trying to put as much pressure on her as I can so she would go even crazier on her serve.”

“Yeah, I think she just dropped her level on her serve. I just felt like, Okay, I still have some chances in this match. I was pushing myself so hard to put balls back on the other side as much as I could.”

As for her own experience, Sabalenka explained that the problem was both technical and mental. She added: “Well, I would say first it started as technical issue. But then when you’re serving so many double faults, you kind of stand there thinking like, ‘Is this going to happen again or I'm able to put this serve in?’

“Then it became mental issue. Then you just have to deal with both, which is really difficult and tough. You have to be really mentally strong enough to overcome this thing.”

“I think, yeah, I just start this journey with biomechanic guy. I just got little belief that, okay, my serve is still there. I was just keep working, keep trying, keep serving. Keep double-faulting sometimes, but already with understanding what is going on there without thinking if it's going to happen again or not.

“It's a long process. I'm still going through it. But, yeah, it's both. Honestly, it's both.”