Coco Gauff's former coach, Pere Riba, has shared his side of the split between him and the world number three on the WTA Tour.
Gauff made the shock decision to part ways with Riba mid-way through the 2023 WTA Finals. The choice was a surprise, given Riba had coached the 19-year-old through her most successful period, which ended with a US Open win in September.
In addition, Gauff only added Riba to her coaching team before Wimbledon, following strong recommendations of the Spaniard from other players in the game.
However, Riba has shared more on the two parting ways and said to the Functional Tennis Podcast that, despite trying to find a medium with Gauff, some personal reasons meant he was unable to continue as the US Open champion's coach.
"Everything was perfect. The situation was that I had some issues in my family. And you know, in that moment, my family needed me. I had to come back. And then, you know, was personal things.”
"I felt that I had to be here. For me, it was a difficult situation, tough decision. Both of us, we tried to find a solution, but when these things happen, you cannot control.”
Shortly after Riba left his role, Gauff spoke positively about the 35-year-old. Moreover, the US player said it wasn't her decision to part ways, and she wanted him to continue in his position.
In his recent interview, Riba was also positive about his relationship with Gauff, who also won the WTA 500 Citi Open and WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open alongside the Spanish coach.
Also, Riba explained there are no hard feelings between the pair on how things unfolded, as the former Spanish player recently started coaching another player, Qinwen Zheng.
"But everything was perfect; I enjoyed it a lot. Good results; good improvement. I only can positive things, I was living in the States, of course, when this happened. [I just came back to fix things in my family].”
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