Andy Roddick sends warning to Coco Gauff about 'playing better' against Jasmine Paolini in Italian Open final

Andy Roddick recently offered his two cents on Coco Gauff's prospects in the upcoming 2025 Italian Open final against Jasmine Paolini. The former World No. 1 believes that the American will have to come out guns blazing, considering the Italian will be buoyed by raucous support at her home tournament.

Gauff has been in impressive form at Foro Italico this fortnight, dropping just one set en route to her second consecutive title match appearance at a claycourt 1000-level event. The fourth seed fought tooth and nail in the semifinals against eighth-seeded Zheng Qinwen, who served for the match at 5-3 in the deciding set. In what marked an incredible display of resilience, the 21-year-old eventually notched a 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(4) win in three hours and 34 minutes.

Ahead of her Italian Open final outing against sixth-seeded Jasmine Paolini on Saturday (May 16), Andy Roddick was invited by Tennis Channel's Jim Courier and Steve Weissman to share his thoughts on Coco Gauff's chances of winning her first singles title of 2025. The former US Open champion maintained that while the World No. 3 was a dependable force from the baseline, she would likely have to play less scrappy than she has in Rome thus far.

"I dont think she's going to make too many unforced errors against Paolini. But she's gonna have to play better because that crowd will be kind of all over her," Andy Roddick said on the Tennis Channel show on Friday. "They're going to be whistling if she hits her second serve half way over the net. But this is nothing Coco hasn't gone through before."

During the interaction, Roddick and four-time Major winner-turned-analyst Jim Courier also dissected Coco Gauff's inconsistent serve.

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Andy Roddick on Coco Gauff's second-serve niggles: "Just a matter of training that mentality"

Coco Gauff prepares to serve at Italian Open 2025 | Image Source: Getty

Coco Gauff has recently attracted criticism for her second serve, which has become susceptible to double faults. According to year-to-date data, the 2023 US Open winner committed a whopping 151 double faults in her 26 matches before arriving at the Italian Open.

Moreover, she hit 15 double faults against Qinwen in their last-four clash at Foro Italico, casting doubts on her ability to serve herself out of danger in the final against Paolini. Against that background, Courier and Roddick unpacked her second serve as they attributed her awkward ball toss as the main reason behind her committing a slew of double faults recently.

"Many have tried. Andy spent some time with her, trying to help her as well. A lot of it comes down to the ball toss position," Jim Courier said. "I've felt, at times, when [she hits] her second serve, the ball toss is a little too far forward and you can't really go up at it.

"I think Jim is absolutely right. I've watched her step, three feet from her, she's ripping it and the net's not even in play in practice, right?" Andy Roddick added. "I think it's just a matter of training that mentality, you kinda have to hit the bottom of the ball a little bit, or at least have the mentality to create speed and margin by kind of rolling over from the bottom."

For what it's worth, Coco Gauff has put together a good season on the WTA Tour despite her serve not being at the top of its powers. The American has compiled a 24-7 win/loss record and guided Team USA to its second United Cup title in January.