Coco Gauff declared that she and her team have “found the recipe” to making her serve more consistent after reaching the 2026 Italian Open final.
The world No 4 defeated 27th-ranked Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-finals in Rome to progress to her second successive final at the WTA 1000 tournament.
Gauff, who has long been plagued by issues with her second serve, hit only one double fault as she claimed a convincing win.
The two-time major champion will play either Iga Swiatek or Elina Svitolina in the championship match at the Foro Italico.
Here is everything Gauff said in her press conference after her semi-final win.
Q. Coco, welcome back to the Rome final. Your thoughts on your performance?
GAUFF: Yeah, I thought today was a much cleaner match for me than some of my previous matches. Sorana is a great opponent, great player. Very happy with this win.
Q. Today, you hit only one double fault, and also in the [Iva] Jovic match, you only hit one double-fault. I was wondering, where are you in your process of getting back with the second serve? Is it like you wake up and maybe that day, or is it an effective improvement?
GAUFF: No, I think it’s a real improvement. I think it’s like the first time in my career I feel like I’m really stable with that shot. Yeah, it’s been an up-and-down process. I obviously don’t want to jinx anything, but I think we found the recipe to making it more consistent. Now it’s focusing on how to make it more of a weapon, how to serve smarter, things like that, yeah.
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Q. With some of the crazy matches you’ve had here this week, do you ever think about how unique the tennis scoring system is? Is there anything you would ever like to change about it?
GAUFF: Yeah, it is very brutal at times, and also favourable at times. I think the uniqueness about our sport is, literally, it’s not over until it’s over. If there’s anything I would change about the scoring? Maybe, like, the way the games are 15-Love, 30-Love. That doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s so hard to explain that to people. It’s 15-30, but it goes to 40. Why? I don’t know, 1-0, 1-All situation. At least make it incrementally. It should be 45, not 40, so yeah…
Q. You will play a final in two days. How much is it important for your confidence before Roland Garros where you won last year?
GAUFF: Yeah, it definitely gives me a lot of confidence because I also played some players who are having great clay-court seasons and great seasons in general. Yeah, I thought in Madrid I also felt like I was playing some good tennis, too. Just a little bit had to learn from having the lead in that match against [Linda]Noskova. Overall, I feel like my game is getting better. There’s moments that I still can fine-tune and do better at. I definitely think it’s in the right direction.
Q. You talked about the confidence on the serve. What, technically, do you think you’re really doing better now? What exactly in the motion or the toss?
GAUFF: I mean, I think I’m tossing a bit more consistent. My weight, I feel, is a little bit better. Also just the trust, the confidence in it is a lot better. I think because my confidence in it is better, then I’m actually consistently, I guess, tossing the ball in the right spot, having my technique be the same on each serve regardless where my target is. I think that’s the biggest difference.
Q. When you lose the first set in the matches, then when you came back on court, you are a little bit blocked in a way of, I have to win the first set, or maybe you have the confidence of getting these wins, so you are confident you can win the first set?
GAUFF: I mean, obviously when you go on court, you want to win the first set. I grew up with my dad, [he] always said the second set is the most important set because either you win the match or you give yourself the chance to stay in the match. I think, for me, this week I learned I need to know how to close these sets better. It’s not necessarily I’m getting these slow starts, I’m usually starting out the set – not like today – but usually starting up these sets up a break, sometimes letting it slip. Today, when I went up 5-4, I was really just trying to make sure I closed it out in that game. Obviously when you win the first set, you have a bit more confidence because you know if you don’t win the second, you still have a chance in the third to turn things around.
Q. A question about the Roland Garros title. What do you think about the system where you need to defend points after the winning? Does it make the feeling a little bit bittersweet after you won the title?
GAUFF: I mean, I think I used to get caught up in the point system and things like that, just trying to defend. Now when you really think about it, the season’s from January to November. If you’re doing the right things on the practice court and on court, and you’re healthy, you have the chance to win those points throughout the year. Now when I go into Roland Garros, I’m not even thinking about ranking or anything. I want to make sure I mentally approach that tournament in the correct way. If I lose first round, I mentally give it my all, it’s okay, I learned from it. I definitely don’t want to be thinking about what if, what if I lose, or what if I this… I just want to take it one match at a time.
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