Coco Gauff recently split from Brad Gilbert as her coach, but she's already found a new coach to add to her team alongside her long-time coach, Jean-Christophe Faurel.
The summer of the 2023 season was one many would call ideal for Gauff, who won a Grand Slam trophy for the first time in her life. It all happened just weeks after noted tennis coach Brad Gilbert joined her team, and it seemed like the American had finally found the perfect setup to launch her career into the stratosphere.
It started promisingly in 2024 with an early trophy in Auckland, but as time went on, the American struggled to find her best level. She played well at times, but she wasn't making the type of progress some fans expected her to make.
It all culminated this summer in a poor few months, with a disappointing Olympics experience and an even worse few weeks in the United States. Not only did she fail to defend her Cincinnati Open trophy, but she also failed to defend her US Open trophy, which was a disappointment for the 20-year-old.
Her tennis seemingly went backward, as her serve completely collapsed on top of the forehand woes that had been present for a long time. The end result of all of that was her parting ways with coach Brad Gilbert.
It was an interesting move and somewhat surprising to many because the partnership got her to new heights in the first place. She seemingly felt like it was better to split, and that's what happened.
Shortly after the split, Gauff already found a replacement for Gilbert. The new addition to her team is Matt Daly, a coach who has worked with a number of players over the years.
He's a former player who has been a coach for a long time and most recently worked with Denis Shapovalov last year. He and Gauff linked up a week before she flew to Beijing for the China Open, and upon arrival there, Gauff discussed those changes with the WTA Insider.
"I'm really excited. I think this is probably what it will look like next year too. I'm super excited for a new change and hopefully to improve other parts of my game."
"Working with Brad was really great and obviously we had a great partnership. I think it was just time to do a reset, a refresh, and add some things in my game that I felt like I need to do to have a better season next year."
Time will tell whether Daly can get Gauff where she wants to go. While there are a couple of issues she needs to address, right now Gauff is mainly focused on her serve because if her serve doesn't work, then many parts of her game don't work either.
"There are other parts of my game that I want to work on, too, but the focus right now is the serve. When I serve well, I play pretty well. For me, that's the basis for my game."