Coco Gauff gets honest about whether she regrets splitting from her coach
NewsSaturday, 01 November 2025 at 23:51
Coco Gauff discussed whether she made a mistake by parting from her former coach, Matt Daly, and also gave an insight into the pressure on her at the 2025 US Open.
Gauff worked with Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick's former coach, Brad Gilbert, from July 2023 to September 2024. They achieved early success together, most notably winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the 2023 US Open.
Results dipped after that, and Gauff chose to split from Gilbert after the 2024 US Open. He was replaced by Matt Daly, who faced the task of making a positive impact before the 2024 season ended.
Daly played a pivotal role in Gauff's late-season resurgence. The world No. 3 won her second WTA 1000 title at the 2024 China Open before an even more significant triumph at the 2024 WTA Finals.
Gauff's best moment with Daly as her coach occurred at the 2025 French Open. She recovered from losing the first set in a Grand Slam final against Aryna Sabalenka for the second time to reign supreme in Paris.
Despite that moment, Gauff's second-serve issues remained a significant burden throughout Daly's time as her coach. The 21-year-old hit 400 double faults this year, which she also reached in 2024.
That problem and indifferent results since winning the French Open led to Gauff splitting from Daly a few days before the 2025 US Open, and she hired biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan, who previously helped Aryna Sabalenka with her second-serve struggles.
Gauff's second serve was still a significant impediment at the US Open. However, she showed improvement at the China Open and Wuhan Open, where she won the title after further work with MacMillan.
In an interview with Sky Sports in Riyadh before the 2025 WTA Finals began, Gauff said she did not regret removing Daly from her team. The American No. 1 admitted the US Open was even more challenging than usual, but she thinks that experience made her stronger.
"The US Open was tough. I am used to attention, and I don’t know if it was more, but it felt like a lot more [this year]. “Once it was all over, I think it was a great learning experience for me,” said the 21-year-old, who saw her campaign at Flushing Meadows come to an end when suffering defeat to Naomi Osaka in round four."
"I definitely don’t regret my decision [to change coaches] or anything. I would do it 1000 times. But it made me a better player and person off the court, having to navigate all of that."
The difficult US Open reinforced to Gauff that new experiences will arise as a high-profile player and that the cameras being on for practices will not change.
"Sometimes on tour, you think you have got the hang of it, but there is always new territory to be faced. I think that was a new thing, and it’s not going to be the first or last time in my career that there will be more attention."
"I think tennis is one of those rare sports where we don’t really have closed practices. We are always practicing. That was the tough thing. Having to work on the motion and all the cameras when I would walk on court would turn to me. Everyone was trying to see everything. It was a cool experience. Not at the time, but now looking back, it was funny."
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