Coco Gauff won't reveal off-season upgrades but ready to conquer United Cup again

Coco Gauff recently touched on her preparations for the upcoming 2026 tennis season. Without giving too much away, the current World No. 3 and two-time singles Major champion laid bare her readiness for Team USA's title defense at the 2026 United Cup, which is set to mark her first competitive campaign in the new season alongside Taylor Fritz and other American tennis stars.

After arriving in Perth, Australia, where Team USA is set to play its group stage matches, Coco Gauff expressed her hope of beginning the 2026 season in a similar way she began 2025. At the start of this year, Gauff played a starring role in USA's United Cup title triumph and then finished as a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open.

"Last year I felt like it started off my season pretty strong, Gauff said. So looking forward to hopefully doing the same thing," Gauff told reporters at Perth Airport.

Subsequently, the 21-year-old spoke briefly about her off-season preparations and how she is hopeful of her behind-the-scenes work paying off once the 2026 season begins.

"But yeah, you never know what to expect at the start of the year. You know you’ve been practicing for a few weeks straight, so hopefully the things that I’ve been working on in practice can translate over," she added.

"Coco Gauff's such a good athlete, but technically there are issues" - American former WTA star

Coco Gauff at the 2025 WTA Finals (Source: Getty)

While Coco Gauff added two prestigious singles titles to her haul in 2025 (French Open and Wuhan Open), overall, the season exposed certain weaknesses in the American's game that continue to plague her on-court performances and results. Arguably the biggest of them was the World No. 3's serve, which went awry for her in multiple matches, resulting in a shockingly high number of double faults.

Earlier this month, American former WTA star Alexandra Stevenson hoped that Gauff's decision to rope in biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan ahead of the US Open pays off in the long run.

"I don’t understand why, she should be able to fix it, she’s such a good athlete, but technically there’s issues within the motion and hopefully this guy (MacMillan) is fixing it," Stevenson said on an episode of the Inside-In Tennis Podcast.

Coco Gauff finished 2025 having hit 431 double faults. No one else on the WTA Tour hit as many; a clear indication that the American must improve her serve if she is to regularly contend for the biggest titles in women's singles tennis.

Edited by Sudipto Pati