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On day off from her San Diego Aviators duties, CoCo Vandeweghe headed to The Greenbrier Gun Club in nearby clearing in the woods to test her skills at hitting fast-flying orange discs.

"I think she did extremely well for it not being something that she does as a hobby or anything," said Gun Club instructor Joe Windon.

The 28-year-old is an accomplished professional athlete, but shooting clay pigeons was outside of her comfort zone. She was in good company as most of the visitors to the Gun Club are actually first-time shooters.

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WATCH: Vandeweghe goes trap shooting at The Greenbrier

Coaching was crucial and once her footwork and technique were established, a lot of the process was managing nerves and controlling her mind. Sounds a bit like tennis, doesn't it?

"He helped me right away," Vandeweghe said of coach Windon. "I was a quick learner from Joe's isms. He had some great one liners to get us going. I definitely caught on to what he was saying pretty quickly because I came out the victor."

One of his isms was "Put your brain in your pocket", which is meant to help you stop thinking so much as you juggle loading, holding, aiming, shooting and unloading. He had two other key tips: Keep your head in the gun and focus on the target.

WATCH: Vandeweghe goes trap shooting at The Greenbrier

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"She did such a good job because the two things she had to do—head in the gun and look at the bird–she was doing that natural it seems like," he said.

Her success rate was respectable: she’d make contact on 15 of 25 shots. At one stage, she hit five in a row.

"I thought that was pretty solid," the former No. 9 said. "And then I got cocky and I started missing. I was like, darn it, get your head back in the game."

It's not as easy as it sounds. Holding a shotgun is intimidating, putting your cheek right against it is scary, and anticipating the kickback is nerve-wracking. It's unfamiliar territory and the adrenaline was certainly pumping, though Vandeweghe settled in quickly.

"It was so much fun," she said. "I didn't know how good I would be since I haven't shot a gun since I was 16. That was really fun to track a target and try to shoot it."

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