Coco Gauff, like many other players on tour, claims to have a complicated relationship with the clay.
However, when she makes this claim, it’s hard to believe her.
After all, 2025 saw her reach the final in both Madrid and Rome before winning the Roland Garros title. It’s hard to suggest that she does not succeed on this surface.
Alas, Coco Gauff has had plenty more than just conditions to worry about of late, with serving and forehand issues that have plagued her for over a year now.
Fortunately for her and her team, a solution has been in the works, and finally seems to be paying dividends.
Coco Gauff rates her serve after winning in Madrid
Speaking on the Tennis Channel panel after winning her opening-round match in Madrid, she began by assessing her performance after beating Leolia Jeanjean in straight sets.
“Interesting match,” Gauff claimed. “Played a player who I feel like does well on the surface. So, yeah, I’m happy that I was able to get my groove and come off a clean win today.”
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Then, when informed that her first serve percentage sat at 80% in throughout that match, she was unsurprisingly delighted: “I think it’s just when I completely trust myself and the new technique that we’re working on and yeah, I think it showed today that when I can do that, it’s pretty hard for them, my opponents.
“So I’m just hoping to keep that rhythm, the rest of this… well, hopefully forever!”
Coming from the indoor clay of Stuttgart to the high altitude of Madrid is never an easy transition, and Gauff finished by admitting that she has struggled.
She added: “Yeah, I mean, Stuttgart is always a difficult tournament for me, I just can never seem to find myself on the clay, but I’mma keep trying, maybe one year, I’ll break out.
“But no, here, I mean, this was another tournament that I used to struggle at, and then I had the breakthrough result last year.
“So I think I’ve learned how to play in these altitude clay conditions and, yeah, I think today it was suiting my game. The balls were really bouncing high off my racket and, yeah, I think for me, just making the transition from Stuttgart to Madrid is a little bit difficult because you go from indoors where the ball bounces a lot lower to here where the ball bounce is a lot higher.
“So, honestly, my practice week wasn’t the best, but the last two days have been great, so I’ll take it.”
Gauff would later send a message to Carlos Alcaraz after seeing him forced to withdraw from Roland Garros through injury.
The stunning stats behind Coco Gauff’s Madrid Open win over Leolia Jeanjean
In all honesty, Gauff was near-faultless throughout her match against Jeanjean.
And, the measure of her sensational serving is perfectly exemplified through the fact that she did not manage a single double fault in the match.
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She did face three break points, and Jeanjean did convert two of them.
However, it was not enough to stop Gauff, who won seven of the 16 break points she managed on the Frenchwoman’s serve.
In the end, the two-time major champion won 59% of her service points, 62% of the return points, and was good value for her 6-3, 6-0 victory.