US Open: Coco Gauff a different player thanks to ex-Andy Murray coach Brad Gilbert, says Mats Wilander

ByEurosport

Published 24/08/2023 at 10:53 GMT

Mats Wilander has praised the work Coco Gauff's new coach Brad Gilbert has done to help the American produce some of the best tennis of her career. Gilbert, who has previously worked with Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi, began working with Gauff on a trial basis ahead of the Citi Open in Washington but is expected to remain with her for at least the remainder of the US hard-court swing.

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Mats Wilander has hailed the impact coach Brad Gilbert has had on Coco Gauff's game in recent months.

The 19-year-old American has had one of the most successful months of her career to date since she began working with Gilbert at the end of July.

She won the Citi Open at the start of August and won her maiden WTA 1000 event - the Cincinnati Open - last weekend. En route to victory in Ohio she beat world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.

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Due to her impressive form, the 2022 French Open finalist now goes into the US Open in New York as one of the favourites to win the Grand Slam in front of a home crowd.

Eurosport tennis expert Wilander thinks Gauff has benefitted greatly from working with Gilbert, who has previously worked with the likes of Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi.

"I think the biggest difference with Coco can be left unsaid because I think that Brad Gilbert is a coach who understands what talent looks like," Wilander told Eurosport.

"He understands what talent means. And talent doesn't mean a person who has great hands and great anticipation, but it is someone that really has that inner drive. And I think he understands that. He understood it with Andy Murray, even though they most probably didn't break up on great terms.

"But that's part of Brad Gilbert. He gets in there, he gets into their heart and their mind, and he's not going to take no for an answer. If you say no, then he's on to the next person. And I think he did that with Murray. He helped Andy Roddick win the US Open. He helped Andre Agassi come back and win the career Grand Slam. He gets what talent means."

Wilander believes the biggest way Gilbert has helped develop Gauff's game is by giving her a better understanding of which points to take greater risks on.

He said: "I think that he has helped her to understand that tennis is not a sport where you just fight and fight and fight and you collect points and you put them in a pile and at the end we count them up. No, that's not tennis, that's basketball. And he's a big basketball player and fan. He's understood that tennis is about the big points, what they mean.

Coco Gauff of the United States in action against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in the womens singles final on Day 8 of the Cincinnati Open

Image credit: Getty Images

"What do you do at 30-0? Do you then play safe to get to 40-0? Or do you take a risk and relax a little bit on that forehand of Coco Gauff? And you might get a bit of feeling, you might hit a shot that is great that your opponent reacts to.

"I think he's just loosened her up and he's explained somehow to her that your strength is movement and your strength is not missing and fighting.

"So when we're playing at 15-15 that's the Coco I would like to see every single time. But how you arrive there has to look differently every time. Meaning the game prior to that, there was a chance for you to go for an ace, to serve and volley, to hit a forehand flat, and you need to do that at the right time. And that could have been at 40-15, the game before.

"Coco wants to be a grinder, like an Andy Roddick, like an Andy Murray. She wants to be that person, but it's not enough. You got to turn into someone else when the scoreline means less. And Brad Gilbert is the absolute master at that."

Gauff, who has a 11-1 record since the start of Wimbledon, says "small adjustments" to her game have been the difference maker.

"It has just been the execution and the belief, and the things in practice, down to the foot work and how I approach to the ball," she told WTA Insider.

"I used to think that when they [opponents] hit really fast at me I used to just squat and try to bang it back, but I realise that is not the most consistent way to play. It’s just that mentality change… so it has just been small changes and how they have changed my perspective on that has helped.

"But obviously nothing has changed drastically like people think. I didn’t change anything, it’s just those small adjustments.

"Going into the off-season, for sure I want to improve in little things, these last couple of weeks has just been about minor adjustments, but that makes me really excited when I have a break in the season to really improve."

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