Former American tennis star Andy Roddick has commended Coco Gauff for climbing the world rankings despite her crippling service woes.

Gauff split with coach Brad Gilbert after crashing out of the US Open in the round of 16 last month, with the defending champion racking up 19 double faults against Emma Navarro. But she is back up to third in the WTA’s pecking order after winning the China Open and making it to the semi-finals in Wuhan.

More service issues cropped up in the 20-year-old’s defeat to Aryna Sabalenka at the weekend, but she still took it to three sets and put up a solid fight against the top seed.

Speaking on his podcast, Roddick has backed Gauff to overcome her service troubles, and the former US Open champion believes that the fact she has managed to stay so close to the top despite them is ‘crazy’.

“I want to give credit where credit’s due because the loss at the US Open, the 11 or 12 double faults in the third set, the questions post-Brad Gilbert, dealing with a lot of things to create a bit of a momentum, even with the second serve rearing its ugly head again against Sabalenka and almost winning that match,” he said on ‘Served with Andy Roddick’.

“These two things are rarely said, they can rarely be true, someone has full-blown yips on one shot, probably has yips adjacent where there is some work to be done on the forehand. I don’t think anyone would say any different and also she just went back up to No 3 in the world having dealt with these things all year, which is crazy town.

“I think the rest of her game has become so much better than it was a year ago that she will self-correct the [yips] at some point, I have full faith. I think she is committed to it, she is a hard worker.”

After falling short in Wuhan, Gauff announced that she would be sitting out the remainder of the Asian hard-court swing and enjoying time at home. Her next outing, as things stand, will be at the WTA Finals early next month.

“Had a great time [in China],” she wrote on Instagram. “Thanks for the warm welcome and support during this swing…only one more tournament left for the season.”