Remember what happened in 2019? 15-year-old Coco Gauff announced her name on the biggest stages of the tennis world by defeating the five-time champion, Venus Williams in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships. She made it all the way to the fourth round before losing out to Simona Halep by 3-6,3-6 in that match. However, after that fourth-round match, Halep heaped praise on Gauff, saying, “She will be a very tough opponent for everybody. If she keeps doing what she did here, she’s going to get a lot of confidence, and she can win big tournaments soon.” Her predictions came true almost two years later when Gauff won her first major title at the 2023 US Open!
Following that, although she recently secured her second major title at the 2025 Roland Garros, Coco Gauff hasn’t been that great on grass! She has an overall win-loss record of 24-11 (as per Tennis Tonic) on grass, and what’s making things much worse is her draw at the 2025 Wimbledon. How far can she go at the grass-court major? American legend, Andy Roddick, shares his verdict on the same!
If we take a look at Coco Gauff’s tough draw at Wimbledon, she will face Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in the first round. Yastremska is currently ranked 42nd in the world and has an H2H record of 0-3 against the American. Although she hasn’t won a title this year, the Ukrainian did reach the final at the Linz Open before making two impressive runs on grass recently (Nottingham Open- final, Eastbourne Open-QF). If she wins this match, she may face the former world number one, Victoria Azarenka, in the second round, followed by a potential clash with Sofia Kenin in the third round. Overcoming these challenges in the first three rounds would then ensure a possible meeting with Daria Kasatkina in the fourth round before crossing paths with the five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in the QF.
There is a chance of Coco Gauff facing Jessica Pegula and Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals and final, respectively. Looking at this draw, Andy Roddick made a very interesting comment in the recent episode of the ‘Served‘ podcast. He said, “Coco has a brutal draw, just so we’re clear, Coco has a nightmare of a draw. Yastremska can play on grass. She just made the finals of a tournament last week (takes a deep breath).” Further analyzing Gauff’s path to title triumph at Wimbledon, she showcased a bit of concern and added, “Oh, no..this is a hard one cuz I’m like I find myself my mind telling me something different than my heart is telling me. I don’t think Coco makes it to the fourth round. I’m flirting with this upset on Yastremska in the first round.” Quite interesting, isn’t it?
He further analyzed how it’s different to deliver on both clay and grass and said, “It just is, the playbook hasn’t changed because she won Roland Garros. She was able to manage the playbook against her going through with speed on that forehand side; her legs are more of a weapon. On the day, she slides great…the forehand is better on clay.” Having said that, she also put up the poor record of Coco Gauff on this surface, but having said that, Roddick also mentioned that he loves Gauff and respects her a lot, and claimed that he’d be happy if his predictions go wrong. But as per him, this is the most challenging surface for the 21-year-old.
Image Credits: Coco Gauff/Instagram
If not Coco Gauff, then who’s his pick at the 2025 Wimbledon? Just a few weeks ago, Andy Roddick named Aryna Sabalenka as the “clear-cut favorite” in this tournament. Although Sabalenka has lost two major finals already this season, it’s quite interesting to see tennis experts going for her at the grass-court major. But what do other tennis bigwigs have to say about Coco Gauff’s chances at Wimbledon?
Coco Gauff is labeled as a “second favorite” at the 2025 Wimbledon
Despite having a stellar run at Roland Garros, Coco Gauff faced a disappointing start to her grass-court swing in Berlin. She went down to China’s Xinyu Wang by 3-6,3-6 in the first round. But despite that shocking defeat, former pro, CoCo Vandeweghe, claimed this defeat could turn out to be a positive for the world number two ahead of Wimbledon. She believes Gauff will now be more motivated to bounce back strongly on what some of the experts claim as her least favorite surface.
Talking about her chances at Wimbledon, Laura Robson said, “I don’t know who is favorite in the women’s Wimbledon event. I would probably say Sabalenka because she’s done well there in the past but for Coco, it’s been a surface which hasn’t quite given her the results that the other Slams have.”
Although Tim Henman said that he would love to see Coco Gauff win Wimbledon other tennis experts like Todd Woodbridge claim that it would be more difficult for Gauff to win back-to-back major titles. According to Mats Wilander, Gauff will definitely be among the two of the favorites in this tournament, while Martina Navratilova named her as the “second favorite” at the 2025 Wimbledon after Aryna Sabalenka. Seeing this tough draw at Wimbledon, how far do you think she can reach this time?
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