Coco Gauff bolstered her coaching team ahead of the upcoming Wimbledon adding a former Spanish player as a new coach.
Gauff started this year in fantastic fashion, winning a trophy early which made everyone think that her major breakout is here. She's been at the top for a while now but she's yet to win a signature title that would signal to everybody that peak Gauff has arrived.
Peaking at a very young age is tough to do and while some like Swiatek were able to do so, the American's trajectory is one of a slow rise. There isn't a specific reason for that, not like the coaching carousel that slowed down the career of some other player, even though many pointed out to her forehand as issues she needs to fix.
Luckily Gauff is a very self-aware player and it's on her to-do list for the off-season. For the past few weeks though the American was searching for a coach. She parted ways with her previous coach earlier this year enlisting the help of former mentor Patrick Mouratoglou during the clay season. Mouratoglou is busy with Rune and is still contractually tied to Simona Halep so it was always going to be a stopgap solution.
Gauff took her time, it wasn't a decision that she wanted to make quickly. The process ultimately led her to former Spanish player Pere Riba who achieved his highest ranking in 2011 when he was 65th in the world. He's been retired since 2010 having worked as a youth coach since then. He also worked with some WTA players in the past like Qinwen Zheng and Arantxa Rus.
According to reports from Marca, the Spaniard will now be working with Gauff. Their first event together will be the Eastbourne International while Wimbledon will be the one everybody will be looking at. It's the event that catapulted her into the tennis stratosphere as a teenager a few years ago.
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