Tennis star Coco Gauff has admitted to using Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka as inspiration in her efforts to adapt her serve ahead of her WTA Finals defense in Riyadh.

November 1 will see the WTA Finals get underway in Saudi Arabia, with the total prize money for the event standing at a record $15.5 million. The winner of the tournament will receive over $5 million.

Gauff, 21, has enjoyed an undulating 2025. Earlier this year, she won the French Open, coming from a set down to beat Sabalenka in stunning fashion. However, she followed that up with a first-round exit at Wimbledon and a fourth-round exit at Flushing Meadows in the US Open.

Back in August, Gauff opted to make a change to her coaching team just days before the US Open, parting ways with coach Matthew Daly. In Daly’s place, Gauff hired serving specialist Gavin MacMillan to help fix her serve – with the latter having previously helped Sabelenka do the very same thing.

During her stellar but young career, Gauff’s serve has come under fire. However, the two-time Grand Slam winner has admitted ahead of her WTA Finals title defense that she has used Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic as inspiration when it comes to revamping her serve.

“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,” said Gauff, speaking to The National.

“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.

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She added: “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.”