Why is Coco Gauff struggling? Looking into American’s form woes and what went wrong after bright start to 2025
Coco Gauff started 2025 with five wins in a row, leading the US to the United Cup trophy. Since then, however, the American has failed to play on the same level, getting knocked out from the Australian Open quarter-final and scoring back-to-back losses in Doha and Dubai. While the Middle Eastern stretch was never her favorite of the year, which is reflected in her past results there, the American’s form drop does warrant an examination.
Star tennis players like Gauff don’t really drop in form this drastically often, so in that sense, it was a rather alarming development. She finished last year on a high note, winning the WTA Finals in Riyadh, which was for many her return to the forefront of tennis. She first did it when she won the US Open in 2023 but failed to really make an impact in 2024 in the first half.
The impact came later on with a strong finish to the year, including the WTA Finals, where she won four of the five matches she played at the event. The expectations after that one were that she would continue like that in 2025. Those expectations were tempered though, because she hasn’t really gone on a heater like that before, so until she does, people were unsure if she’s able to.
Her performances at the United Cup certainly backed up her WTA Finals form, as she won all five matches she played, including over her arch nemesis Iga Swiatek, against whom she has historically struggled. She was simply playing fantastic tennis. Expectations rose due to that and it looked okay at the Australian Open. She looked in control until the match with Paula Badosa.
That quarter-final was a pretty bad performance by Gauff, who was beaten in two sets. She then took a break going back home to the US, returning about 20 days later in the Middle East. The first event was Doha, where she was stunned in the first match by Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 7-5. Then she went to Dubai, where she was stunned by McCartney Kessler 6-4, 7-5.Neither of these performances was good and while playing well in the Middle East isn’t that common for Gauff, this was another low. So what happened? Is it form or is it something else? It’s a combination of factors, some of which are best illustrated through some stats.
