Coco Gauff has broken her silence on the split between her and tennis coach Pere Riba, who helped her achieve some great results in the previous months.
Gauff hired Riba ahead of Wimbledon after an extensive search for a coach. She didn't rush the decision and felt pretty good about the decision made, and time proved her right.
She improved under Riba, especially after the inclusion of veteran coaching voice Brad Gilbert. She won the US Open along with some other trophies, and everything looked fine; however, the team has split up since then.
Gilbert remains in Gauff's team and is with her in Cancun, while Riba is not. The news about the split was announced during the broadcast of her match at the WTA Finals, leaving many people stunned.
Following that win over Ons Jabeur, Gauff confirmed the news and explained that it wasn't her decision. She enjoyed working with Riba, but the split still happened. They're on good terms, though, and she wished him all the best in his next chapter.
Unfortunately it wasn’t my decision, but we had to end the partnership. I had a great time with him & I wish him the best in this next chapter. If it was up to me, I would’ve loved to have him here. But things happen, life happens. No bad terms on our end.
Sometimes people think it’s bigger than what it is. Some things just didn’t work out. That’s all. I still think he’s a great guy. He did some amazing things for me personally & also for my game. I’m sure he’s gonna be successful in his next step.”
It's an unfortunate development because it looked like things were working pretty well. It does open the possibility of seeing whether the magic of her rise came thanks to Riba or Gilbert. Some implied it's the latter, and now we'll see.
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