COCO GAUFF FINALLY LOOKS LIKE A WORLD-BEATER, SETTLED WITH BRAD GILBERT AS A COACH, UNLIKE EMMA RADUCANU
As she finished off Karolina Muchova in 1hr, 57 minutes, she let off a huge scream of maybe fulfillment. This was a stage she had long been heralded to be a regular at since breaking out in 2019, but the steps have been gradual unlike Emma Raducanu.
Five months into her 20th year, Gauff arrived in New York on the back of her first real achievement of substance: the capture of the 1,000-point Cincinnati title 2 weeks ago. The timing is impeccable, because this is the first US Open to be staged since the retirement of Serena Williams. According to Martina Navratilova, who is commentating on the tournament for Sky Sports, we are approaching a moment of handover.
“I think Coco’s ready for a symbolic passing of the torch from Serena,” Navratilova said. “There will be a big, big void with Serena not playing. We felt it at Wimbledon as well, but we’ll feel it even more at the US Open, because we now know she’s not going to come back, since she’s had a second baby. And so the spotlight will be on Coco, even though there are plenty of American players that are capable of making some big waves.
‘Gilbert has her conserving her emotional energy’
What, then, has changed for Gauff? This is an easy question to answer, because she has completely rethought her coaching arrangements over the summer. Pushing her father Corey into the background, she hired the young Spanish coach Pere Riba in June and then supplemented him with a much bigger name – Brad Gilbert – after suffering a deflating first-round loss at Wimbledon. Does this remind you of another Tennis star?
Emma Raducanu created one of the most enduring images in British sporting history when she charged to victory at the 2021 US Open. And yet, since that New York miracle, her career has been built on shifting sands. Some few months ago, Raducanu announced that she will not be working with Sebastian Sachs any more. This brings her tally of ex-coaches to five in less than two years, and sends her back out into the marketplace with an ever-worsening reputation for instability.
Dmitry Tursunov, her former coach also cited “red flags” when he ended his coaching period with Raducanu at the close of last season.
Gilbert, now best known as a motormouthed commentator for ESPN, is proper coaching royalty: a man who has already guided Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to the US Open title, even if he never quite gelled with the young Andy Murray. Were Gauff to deliver in New York on sunday, Gilbert would become the first coach to land both the men’s and women’s crowns.
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