“Too many commercials?” McEnroe says Gauff needs balance in her schedule.

This was not the only disappointment for Gauff in recent months. She was also eliminated in the fourth round at Wimbledon, was eliminated early at the Canadian Open and in Cincinnati, and did not win a medal at the Olympic Games, although she was one of the favorites in both singles and doubles.

McEnroe says Gauff needs a balanced schedule.

In 2023, Gauff had an exceptional US Open series, winning three titles, but this year she was unable to repeat those performances, resulting in a significant drop in the rankings from No. 2 to No. 6. The American admitted her disappointment after her US Open exit: “This is not the summer I want,” Gauff said. “I feel like there are 70 other players in the field who would like to have the summer I had, even though it’s probably the summer I’ve done the least well at this time of year.”

“So many people want to go to the fourth round. So many people want to go to the Olympics. So many people want to be the flag bearer. It’s a matter of perspective,” she added. “Of course it’s disappointing because I want to reach a different level, but I’m not going to beat myself up and say, ‘That was so bad.'”

“It’s been a year now and I don’t know what happened. She still has problems with her serve, she still has problems with her forehand,” added the former world number 1. “She seems to be showing her frustration openly on the court and letting her anger out more than I’ve ever seen before. I guess it’s just the pressure of expectation.”

“People just say, ‘Oh, go and follow in Serena Williams’ footsteps.’ They think, ‘oh really, this is going to be easy.’ Give me a break,” he stressed. “I noticed she’s been in a lot of commercials too, so they need to balance that out by giving her time to work on her game and feel super confident again,” he added. “You can tell she’s not feeling that way right now.”

McEnroe also said that the mid-season Olympics had affected several players during this hard court tour, as the surfaces were constantly changing in a short period of time. “You can see that all the players who were at the Olympics are struggling physically and mentally,” he said.

“It’s tough to go from clay to grass, back to clay for the Olympics and then straight to hard court. It’s not easy. You have to look at all the guys who won medals at the Olympics and lost early in the US Open, especially in the men’s competition,” said the four-time US Open champion. “You have to look at Jessica Pegula, who is not playing in the Olympics and was coming on well on hard court, but players like Iga (Swiatek) struggled after their match in Paris.”