"LeBron James worked on his game... He has 120 days off": Tennis insider blasts 'horrific' tennis schedule preventing Coco Gauff from fixing her serve

Tennis journalist Jon Wertheim has aired his grievances with the demanding tennis calendar, bemoaning the lack of time for players like Coco Gauff to work on their weaknesses. Wertheim illustrated his point by highlighting that NBA legend LeBron James benefitted from an entire offseason to work on his game, while tennis players do not have the same luxury.

Gauff's struggles with her serve have become a hot topic this season, with the discourse intensifying after she recorded 19 double faults during her shock loss to Emma Navarro at the 2024 US Open. The problem persisted during her semifinal loss to Aryna Sabalenka at the Wuhan Open, as she coughed up 21 double faults.

In his Sports Illustrated mailbag, Jon Wertheim suggested that while Coco Gauff may view her year as a "minor disappointment," she was still ranked as the World No. 3 despite the "obvious defect" of her serve.

"Gauff did not win a major in 2024 and, I suspect, considers this year a minor disappointment. She also is ranked No. 3 in the world with an obvious defect in her game. That must give her some small measure of long-term confidence," Wertheim said.

Wertheim highlighted that while the likes of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James could use the NBA offseason to work on his game, the "horrific" tennis schedule do not allow players any time to work on their weaknesses.

"Here’s another problem with tennis’s horrific schedule: There’s no time to improve your craft. What did (does?), say, LeBron James do in the offseason? He worked on his game. He straightened out the mechanics. He added moves. Why? Because he has 120 days off from the season’s end in May/June until training camp. And even training camp, by definition, allows for preparation," he said.

The 53-year-old also weighed in on the suggestion that Coco Gauff should take a break from the tour to work on her game, explaining that doing so would mean sacrificing crucial points and risking fines. He pointed out that the only option the World No. 3 had was to use her limited time off in December to correct her serving issues.

"I have heard some insider types float the idea that Gauff shuts it down for a few months to clean up her technique. Great, but she will lose points, miss mandatory tournaments and may even risk fines. So instead, she spends a few days in December, wrapped around the holidays, to correct existential issues?" he added.

Coco Gauff on her serving woes: "I'm not worried because I found the solution"

Coco Gauff (Source: Getty)

Despite the concerns surrounding her serving woes, Coco Gauff expressed optimism as she disclosed that she had found the solution to address the issue.

Following her Wuhan Open exit, the American reassured the media that her double faults were just "growing pains" as she adjusted to the new strategy she had developed with her team, including her new coach Matt Daly.

"Yeah, honestly, for me I'm not worried because I found the solution. I didn't really have time to work on it. Yeah, I'm really happy with how the last couple weeks went. I'm just trying to be positive from there," Coco Gauff said.

"It's expected. I only had really a week to learn it, then I went to Beijing. I knew it wasn't going to be great. I'm honestly surprised at how well I was able to do with it. We weren't expecting it. So yeah, I mean, overall it's growing pains, ups and downs," she added.

Coco Gauff will hope to deliver a better serving performance at the 2024 WTA Finals in Riyadh. The American will be joined by the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula at the year-end championships, commencing on November 2.