Coco Gauff splits with coach Brad Gilbert
Charlie Eccleshare
Brad Gilbert has announced that he is no longer coaching Coco Gauff.
The veteran American is one of the most high-profile coaches in tennis, and was part of the team when Gauff won her first and only Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open last year.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, Gilbert, a former world No 4 who has coached Andre Agassi, Andy Roddikk and Andy Murray, revealed that the pair had split: “Thanks to @CocoGauff and the entire team for an absolutely amazing summer run in 2023 and for 14 months of incredible team effort. Coco, at just 20 years young, your future is incredibly bright, and I wish you nothing but continued success ahead. I’m excited for the next chapter in my Coaching career.”
Gilbert, 63, said he was happy with his tweet when contacted for further comment, while a representative for Gauff confirmed the split to The Athletic.
The partnership initially worked wonders for Gauff, leading to that U.S. Open success in September 2023 just two months after they had started working together. Those early months also saw Gauff win the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati Open as she recorded victories in 18 of her first 19 matches after adding Gilbert to the team. Gilbert then took on a more prominent role shortly afterwards when the Spanish coach Pere Riba departed.
Results generally remained positive for the first half of this year, so much so that Gauff moved to a career high ranking of No 2 after reaching the French Open semi-finals. But she has struggled in the few months since Roland Garros, and could be seen remonstrating with Gilbert and fellow coach Jean-Christophe Faurel during a disappointing fourth-round defeat to Emma Navarro at Wimbledon in July.
Gilbert, left, took up a more prominent role in Gauff’s team after Pere Riba’s exit (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Early in the second set, Gauff shook her arms at Gilbert at a change of ends, pleading with him to: “Tell me something.” She repeated the exhortation as she walked back onto the court to serve.
After the match, Gauff said: “We had a game plan going in. I felt that it wasn’t working,” before adding: “Today I don’t think we were all in sync. It’s no one’s blame except myself. I mean, I’m the player out there. I have to make decisions for myself on the court.”
The pair continued to work together throughout the summer, but the results remained indifferent, as Gauff’s old vulnerabilities with the serve and forehand resurfaced. She went out of the Olympics in the third round after a highly-charged dispute with the umpire, and her U.S. Open defence ended at the last-16 stage — beaten again by Navarro. Gauff hit 19 double faults (including 11 in the third set) and made 60 unforced errors to just 14 winners in the match.
Afterwards she said that: “I don’t want to lose matches like this anymore.”
Ultimately that has led to this coaching change, after a period that also saw Gauff win her first Grand Slam doubles title — at the French Open with Katerina Siniakova.
Gauff herself had made no public statement as of Wednesday evening UK time.
The news follows four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka splitting with her coach Wim Fissette last week and former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina parting ways with Stefano Vukov ahead of the U.S. Open.
