Coco Gauff says “it’s weird” she commits so many more double faults in singles than in doubles

Coco Gauff is the type of athlete that sportswriters love to cover. Along with being a pleasant person in general, she’s also someone who will think out loud in press conferences, rather than just doling out canned answers and bolting back to her hotel.

Earlier this week at the National Bank Open in Montreal, Gauff was asked whether playing doubles helps her “work on things in a competitive setting.”

She took that as her cue to vent about her biggest issue, her penchant for double faults.

Read More: Coco Gauff overcomes 23 double faults to squeak past Danielle Collins in Montreal

“My doubles yesterday, I hit zero double faults,” she said. “I just would like to serve how I do in doubles in singles.”

That’s when the thinking-out-loud part started.

“You know, it’s weird,” she went on. “I feel more pressure serving in doubles than in singles because I don’t want to sit here and give the match away for my partner. So I’m trying to take that mentality into singles, but it’s not so easy.”

On the surface, that does seem weird, in a couple of ways. First, she hits the same shot, with the same motion, in doubles so much more consistently than she does in singles. Second, she says it’s not because she feels less pressure in doubles—she actually feels more, because she doesn’t want to let her partner down.

“Weird,” yes. Uncommon, no. Anyone who has served in singles and doubles will likely know exactly what Gauff is talking about, even if it sounds illogical.

I know the feeling all too well myself. When I’m serving in doubles, I feel the outward pressure of not wanting to lose a point for my partner. But it’s in singles where I hit more double faults. Only in singles do I throw the ball up and think, “Don’t miss it.” Which, of course, is the last thing anyone wants to think when they’re playing tennis.

Watching Gauff serve in singles and doubles (with McCartney Kessler) this week, you could see something similar. In doubles, her motion was faster and more efficient, she hit her targets, and never tried to do too much with the ball. In singles, you could feel the hesitation, and see the deceleration in her second serve motion. In those moments, none of the millions of practice swings she had taken over the years were of any help.

Jeff Greenwald, a leading mental-performance coach from Northern California, and author of the new book The Mental Edge for Young Athletes, calls the issue “universal.”

“In singles, you’re the individual, and you’re out there exposed, and there’s a weight to that,” he says. “We know the one shot we have total control over is the serve, and that can mess with you.”

“In doubles, you have someone out there with you. Therapists say, ‘A problem shared is a problem cut in half.’”

As Gauff says, there’s pressure in doubles not to let your partner down, but having that partner also gets us out of our own heads, in a way that we can’t in singles. In doubles, we can talk and fist-bump and strategize with our partners, encourage and commiserate with them. That helps us release some of the nerves and tension that builds up when we’re on our own. It doesn’t lessen the pressure, necessarily, but it makes it easier to fight it proactively. We can use the pressure, rather than letting it use us.

“You want to do well by your partner, and there’s an adrenaline to that,” Greenwald says. “Doubles is more fun and social, which helps you relax.”

In a practical sense, having a partner also lessens your responsibility on court. When you serve, you already have someone in volleying position, so you don’t need to do as much with the ball. There’s less pressure to win the point outright with that shot; just getting a short reply that your partner can put away is enough.

“The best focus you can have on court is a narrow focus,” Greenwald says. “You’ve got your partner covering one side, and you’ve got your lane, your tunnel where you’re serving, so everything gets simplified.”

Which brings us to Gauff’s quandary from above: “I would just like to serve how I do in doubles in singles.”

Is that possible? Obviously, there will always be differences between the two. Gauff will always want to win more free points on her serve in singles, which means trying to hit bigger, riskier first serves.

But Greenwald says there are aspects of doubles serving that can be used in singles. When he moves from one to the other, he tries to bring two serving elements with him: Staying loose and and being decisive.

“Doubles creates the conditions to have more fun, feel less pressure on the serve, be more decisive and play more automatic, because your job is simplified,” he says. “Thinking less and being more automatic, especially at Coco’s level, is definitely the right path.”

In doubles, a solid, well-placed first serve is often enough; it doesn’t need to be 115 m.p.h. and land on the line. Maybe that’s a mentality Gauff could adopt in singles. She has the baseline game to back it up.

After a couple of wild singles rides in Montreal so far, she says she’s pleased just to be alive in both draws. On Saturday, she’ll head back to the singles court, against hometown favorite Victoria Mboko.

“I’m happy that I have another chance to compete, and another chance to get better.”