Boris Becker Backs Improving Coco Gauff to Win Another Grand Slam in 2027

Coco Gauff left the 2026 US Open without the title, but Boris Becker came away encouraged by what he had seen.

Speaking on the Becker Petkovic podcast after the tournament, the six-time Grand Slam champion argued that Gauff has made visible progress over the past six months and backed her to win another major in 2027.

Becker’s assessment came after Andrea Petkovic had broken down Gauff’s run in New York, including a difficult match against Mirra Andreeva and the subsequent semifinal defeat to Elena Rybakina.

Petkovic: Gauff Survived a Bad Day Against Andreeva

Petkovic pointed first to Gauff’s quarterfinal against Andreeva, where she felt the American simply did not look comfortable.

She highlighted several warning signs: Gauff was not moving particularly well, the forehand was misfiring and she had already accumulated 12 double faults across the first two sets.

Yet Petkovic’s main takeaway was that Gauff still found a way through.

According to Petkovic, Gauff eventually turned the match through sheer competitive resistance — surviving the poor level long enough to regain control and then pulling away in the deciding set.

That ability to win without playing well was one of the more encouraging parts of Gauff’s tournament.

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Doubts Returned Against Rybakina

Petkovic felt some of the uncertainty from the Andreeva match resurfaced once Gauff faced Rybakina in the semifinal.

Her theory was that the doubts surrounding Gauff’s forehand had not completely disappeared.

When the semifinal became tight, Rybakina presented a very different problem: elite serving, extreme calm under pressure and very few opportunities for Gauff to reset.

Petkovic described Rybakina as projecting considerable mental strength from the opposite side of the net, while her serve repeatedly allowed her to escape dangerous situations.

She recalled one game in which Gauff reached 0-30, only for Rybakina to respond with two aces or service winners.

As Petkovic put it, things can move very quickly against Rybakina once those small openings disappear.

Becker Sees Clear Progress in Gauff

Becker was considerably more interested in the bigger picture than in the semifinal defeat.

“I still see a lot of positives with her.”

He said Gauff had improved over the previous six months, specifically pointing to three areas:

• fewer errors,
• a more reliable serve,
• a safer forehand.

That is significant because those are also the areas that have drawn the most scrutiny around Gauff’s game.

Her serve, in particular, has often determined whether she can impose herself or is forced to fight through service games. Earlier in the summer, Petkovic had already noted major improvement in Gauff’s serving numbers, including fewer double faults and stronger first- and second-serve speeds.

Becker believes that process is still moving in the right direction.

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Becker Predicts Another Grand Slam Title

His conclusion was emphatic.

“I believe we’ll soon have another Grand Slam champion named Coco Gauff.”

That forecast is less about one specific tournament than about the trajectory he sees.

Gauff is still capable of producing rough stretches. Petkovic’s description of the Andreeva match made that clear. But Becker’s argument is that the floor of her game is improving: the errors are coming down, the serve is becoming more stable and the forehand is giving her fewer problems than it did previously.

Those changes do not need to make Gauff flawless.

They only need to make the difficult days more manageable.

At the US Open, she demonstrated that she could survive one of those days against Andreeva. Against Rybakina, the margin was smaller and the opponent more punishing.

Becker’s expectation is that by 2027, Gauff will be better equipped for both.