Top 5 in the world for singles and doubles at only eighteen years of age, Coco Gauff is making huge waves on the WTA tour. Since bursting onto the scene at Wimbledon a few years ago, she’s shone under the spotlight.
Known for her excellent defense and incredible fight, Gauff performs well under pressure. Though she is yet to capture a trophy at one of tennis’ most prestigious events, a major title is certainly in her future!
Let’s talk about her equipment.
Here’s Cori “Coco” Gauff’s racquet setup:
- Endorsed Racquet: Head Boom Line
- Actual Racquet: Head PT339.2 (Stiffer Head PT57A/Pro Tour 630 layup in Graphene 360 Speed Pro Mold)
- Strings: Luxilon ALU Power 125 around 55 pounds
The Racquet
Coco has wielded Head racquets for the entirety of her career. She began with a Head Speed MP mold in 16×19 pattern but eventually switched to 18×20 string spacing and has kept it since.
The pro stock code for you Head aficionados is PT339.2 which equates to the PT57A2 graphite layup in the retail Graphene 360/360+/Auxetic Speed mold. The PT339.2 comes in both 16×19 and 18×20 string patterns, and Coco has used both.
For her first few years on the tour, Gauff was using a Speed paintjob but moved to endorsing the Blue Head Boom paintjob at the beginning of 2022. It’s still the same racquet under the paint, though.
The retail Head Speed mold is a great fit for somebody with a game like Coco’s. Her strategy primarily is that of a defensive baseliner where she redirects pace with heavy, deep groundstrokes and allows her opponents to miss from difficult positions on the court.
Of course, Coco is not all counterpunching and defense: her length and athleticism enable her to serve bombs and power through short balls for winners. Her success on the doubles court proves that she is capable from all areas of the court, having teamed with Caty McNally and Jessica Pegula for some stellar doubles results.
The Speed line of racquets does just about everything well, and though she uses a slightly different layup from retail, the unique combination of an 18×20 string pattern and 100 square in head size suit Coco well.
She gets precision from the string pattern and soft layup to place the ball well when defending and a little bit of extra power on serve and when she wants it from the 23mm beam and larger head size.
Conclusion
Coco doesn’t seem to be going anywhere given her wonderful results this year. She has vaulted herself into the upper echelons of the singles and doubles rankings, cementing her status as one of the WTA tour’s best.
At only 18, she seems to have nothing but good things in front of her. The defensively-based style she employs works wonderfully and maximizes her athletic talent.
She clearly has her identity as a player. I don’t see her tweaking her racquet much either. Like the old adage says, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
If you’re interested in other WTA players’ racquets, I listed all the top 50 players’ racquets in this post.