Coco Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert thought some of Paula Badosa’s actions during her match versus the American tennis star were “beyond ridiculous” as the coach wasn’t happy at all with the Spaniard often tossing the ball in the air to serve, only to catch it with her hand and then start her service motion again.
On Monday, world No. 3 Gauff overcame a really difficult test in Rome as she needed three sets and a comeback to beat former world No. 2 Badosa 5-7 6-4 6-1 in nearly two and a half hours of play.
Throughout the match, both players were creating break point chances, especially Gauff – who had 16 break points compared to Badosa’s nine. But something stuck to Gilbert’s eye as Badosa often repeating her service motion led to him believing that it was intentional and probably a sneaky tactic to disrupt Gauff’s focus on the return.
Although Gilbert didn’t mention Badosa by name, it was pretty apparent that he was referring to her in his post-match post on X.
“You have heard me say this so many times, catching your on ball toss on serve should not be allowed, how can you catch three tosses in a row and not at least get time violation is beyond ridiculous, also allowing 45 catches in a match and…
