Coco Gauff copies Novak Djokovic change that rocketed Serb into tennis GOAT debate

Coco Gauff says she's taking inspiration from Novak Djokovic after hiring a new coach in a bid to fix her serving woes. The world No. 3 has struggled with her serve in recent years, throwing in too many double faults, and recently added biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan to her team, who helped Aryna Sabalenka with similar issues.

Aged just 21, Gauff already has two Grand Slam titles to her name, but she's hoping she can follow in Djokovic's footsteps, suggesting that the 24-time Major winner didn't truly become 'Novak Djokovic' until he worked on his own serving problems.

Gauff enlisted MacMillan just before the US Open. But it was a tournament to forget for the American, as she hit five double faults and 33 unforced errors during a quick fourth-round defeat to Naomi Osaka.

However, the world No. 3 knows that the results won't come overnight, though she got a boost when she won the recent Wuhan Open, proving that their work together is already paying off.

While many pundits and tennis fans have questioned whether Gauff's serving issues are mental, but the two-time Major winner disagrees.

"I feel like with my serve, there have been a lot of comments and opinions, and things that I've tried and it just didn't help. I'm a very logic-based person and I felt like this was the best thing to make it logical for me," she told The National.

"A lot of people thought it was mental and things like that, but I knew for me, it wasn't because of the fact that I feel like I'm one of the mentally stronger players on tour.

"So when I found that someone to give me a real solution to it, it made a lot of a difference. And then it was just about trusting it and putting the reps in.

"And I didn't have that much time to do that, I'm still working on it, but I definitely think the stats in the last few tournaments have shown that it's got better since I started."

Sabalenka, who previously worked with MacMillan, isn't the only player to see vast improvements after tweaking her serve. As she heads into the WTA Finals, where she is the defending champion, Gauff is also looking to the likes of Djokovic and Venus Williams.

She added: "I was looking at Novak and he's someone who didn't have as great of a serve in the beginning of his career, obviously different issue than me, but he just wasn't serving as strong. And he made that change and has gone on to obviously be Novak Djokovic. And even at that time, he was still like a successful player.

"So yeah, I've drawn on those experiences. And obviously Aryna and Venus and those who've done those changes.

"I think [Lorenzo] Musetti, even recently, we were at US Open on the court, sharing the court together, both of us serving, we both changed our serve recently and we were laughing about it.

"So yeah, just seeing that other players, it's just inspiring knowing tennis is won by small margins and those little differences make a difference. And I know if I want to get to the scale that I want to get to, I have to make those changes."