One year later, how’s it looking for Roland Garros finalists Coco Gauff and Casper Ruud?

WATCH: Marie Bouzkova beat Coco Gauff in the third round in Rome.

You’re likely familiar with the adage that while it’s one thing getting to the top, it’s another thing staying there.

What about nearly getting there? Ask that question to last year’s Roland Garros singles finalists, Coco Gauff and Casper Ruud.

While still in her teens, the 19-year-old Gauff has established herself as a formidable competitor. Over the course of five years as a pro, she’s on the path to building a versatile brand of all-court tennis. One major reason for this is that Gauff frequently plays doubles and is skilled in all parts of the court, showing an aptitude for volleying rare among many contemporary pros. Ranked sixth in the WTA singles rankings, Gauff also stands at third in doubles. Over the course of May, Gauff and her doubles partner, Jessica Pegula, reached the finals at both Madrid and Rome.

Gauff’s singles match record during the European clay court season is 3-3. Then again, in 2022, it was 4-3 just prior to her six-victory run at Roland Garros. All three of this year’s losses came to players ranked lower than Gauff – No. 24 Anastasia Potapova in Stuttgart, No. 42 Paula Badosa in Madrid, No. 38 Marie Bouzkova in Rome.

Reflecting in Rome the week after the Badosa match, Gauff said, “It was a tough loss for me. I think you could see that it just wasn't my day, my game, not how I like to appear on court. I've been working really hard since then.”

Gauff also admitted that it’s been tricky adapting to life without having Diego Moyano as her coach (it was an amicable parting, Moyano leaving for his own personal reasons). This spring, in addition to being coached by her father, Corey, Gauff has been training with Jarmere Jenkins, a former hitting partner for Serena Williams. Said Gauff, “He's helping me out I would say more so in a hitting partner type of role. Obviously giving me advice here and there. So, yeah, he's been great.”

There have been various reports that Rick Macci, the man who’s coached such stars as Jennifer Capriati and the Williams sisters, might coach Gauff. Analyzing Gauff’s game, Macci told me, “Her backhand is money in the bank. She has one of the best serves on the tour. She can volley.” But rather than travel with Gauff week after week, Macci seeks to create an immersion course to zero in on Gauff’s forehand: two months away from competition, either mid-year, or, more realistically, following the end of the season in November and December. “I could make this her best shot,” said Macci.

Speaking about her search for a new coach, Gauff recently said, “I do think tennis is a unique sport in that aspect. I feel like in basketball and other sports, I don't know how that process goes, but I feel like they go through a lot more people before they even reach the players. I don't know how much the players have a say in that anyways, whereas in tennis you have pretty much 100 percent say in who you bring on. It's definitely a different process than I'm used to. Now that I'm older, I feel like I'm more involved.”

Though it’s uncertain when Gauff will bring a new coach onboard, the matter close-at-hand is Roland Garros. And one thing that’s been apparent throughout Gauff’s entire career is her ability to play excellent tennis on high stakes occasions. “She’s a good competitor,” said ex-pro and former USTA coach Jose Higueras. “And clay will help with her forehand. She’s got a little more time and so people can’t rush her as much.”

While there is a relatively seamless connection across Gauff’s tennis on all surfaces, 2023 has played out differently for Ruud. From January until the end of March, playing strictly on hardcourts, the 24-year-old Norwegian’s match record was 5-6. “It has not been the best start this year,” Ruud said earlier this month in Rome. “I have a lot of points and tournaments to try to catch up on.”

But once he arrived in Europe for the clay court season, Ruud rapidly found better form. In early April, Ruud hit the clay in high gear with a title run in Estoril. That was his tenth ATP Tour singles title; nine have come on clay.

Last week, at the Masters 1000 event in Rome, Ruud played his trademark brand of solid, baseline-based tennis to reach the semis. “He’s a good mover and consistent,” says Higueras. Still, not once this year has Ruud beaten a player ranked inside the Top 30. Versus seventh-ranked Holger Rune in the semis of Rome, Ruud was up a set and a break, only to lose the match.

“It's tennis, I guess,” Ruud said following that match. “I mean, I had the lead and felt like the finish line was close, but it wasn't in the end. Holger broke back. I played some poor shots, did a couple of bad mistakes. That's how it goes.”

As Ruud and Gauff have both demonstrated, the creation and refinement of a playing style is as much an inexact art from as anything in tennis. So many factors surface, from makeup to background to the proximity of various coaches to the role of parents; the latter, in Ruud’s case, a former ATP pro.

And then, of course, there is the matter of attitude and how the player evaluates what’s previously occurred. “The thing is,” said Ruud last week, “when you've done something before, to reach for example a Grand Slam final, you know that it can happen again because you have been able to do it before, so why not again?”

Perhaps. But also, for both Gauff and Ruud, the hope of going one step further.

Heading into Roland Garros, perhaps one challenge for the fourth-ranked Ruud will be the calibration of match toughness and freshness. Estoril was the beginning of a six-tournament run that’s seen Ruud compete non-stop, including this week’s event in Geneva, where he’s the first seed and defending champion. The heavy tournament load was similar to 2022, when Ruud also played in six events prior to his Roland Garros final effort. “It's a long year, as we know,” Ruud said in Rome. “Maybe the fact that I didn't play too many matches in the beginning of the year can help me maybe for the rest of the year, that I'm feeling fresh, motivated, ready.”

The Ruud playing style at its best has an impregnable quality. One groundstroke after another is struck with depth. Such was the case for the first 1.7 sets of the Rune match. It was arguably the best tennis Ruud has played all year. But he can also get passive and, as happened versus Rune, allow his opponent to control the real estate of the court.