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WASHINGTON, D.C. – When you look at it, there is an extremely large group around 19-year-old Coco Gauff.
Physio, hitting partner, both parents, new coach Pere Riba …
And, new in Washington, D.C. as Gauff begins her summer hard-court season: veteran coach and TV analyst Brad Gilbert.
That’s a couple of new voices to get used to, as Gauff embarks on a “home” run, in a sense, through D.C., Montreal, Cincinnati and the US Open this summer.
There is, however, no magic potion for the forehand, which Gilbert was working on a little Saturday afternoon at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.
Here’s what it looked like.
Gauff did an extensive telephone interview less than a week ago with the Washington Post, talking about the new relationship with Riba and her plan going forward. But there was no mention of Gilbert coming on board.
Gilbert wrote on Twitter that he was “working for the tournament” but he did acknowledge our Tweet about this coaching development.
Here’s Gauff during her pre-tournament media conference, when Open Court asked her about it. She said it had “just started”, but didn’t offer any specifics as to what it IS, exactly.
(They take away the microphone after your first question, so a follow-up isn’t as easy as it sounds. Also – apologies for the hum – big AC units).
On Saturday, there was some “coach coaching the coach”, with Riba (who had been with Zheng Qinwen for a long time, moving over a few months after Gauff parted ways with her previous coach, Argentine Diego Moyano, before the clay-court season). Gauff and Riba are on a “trial” through the US Open, Gauff told the Post.
In between, Pops is always there.
The other two coaches also spent time during the practice session going over to talk to Gauff’s parents.
So there’s … a lot going on.
The concern, of course, is that it’s not as though anyone is going to “fix” anything in a couple of days. And Gauff was already listening to a new voice in Riba. So along comes Gilbert to drop more nuggets on her, another different voice.
In the middle of the season like this, it’s going to be a challenge for Gauff to take in all that new information, while not having her brain explode on the match court.
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“Deep, dark secret” & “absolute construction zone” are right on the mark. Now, “Moving to the ATP forehand” means to me switching to what e.g. Raducanu is doing on forehand in “Coco Gauff vs Emma Raducanu Forehand & Backhand Comparison” at Youtube.
Right, that worked well for Raducanu – except for a glorious two weeks.
Do you really think she’s going to completely change her forehand, at this point?
Far too late. Needed to be taught in the first place.
Well, the elephant is still in the room, isn’t it: is she going to move to the ATP forehand, or not? The way you beautifully describe the coaching situation, they’re going through the same gyrations that beset some of the Canadian junior girls on this issue, so the bio-mechanical clarity is not there yet. BTW, would you know who are these other players: “The final wild card for the qualifying round [in Montreal] will be awarded to the winner of the pre-qualifying event held from July 30 to August 4. Going head-to-head for the last remaining spot in the qualifiers are 16 of Canada’s best up-and-coming players.” Thanks.
They keep the pre-qualifying a deep, dark secret. Every year I try to get info and every year I’m stymied.
They won’t even let the fans in. To be fair on that one, though, the site is an absolute construction zone the week before the big event so it’s probably for safety reasons.
I’m not sure “moving to the ATP forehand” is an option since there isn’t, actually, one specific “ATP forehand”.
(Update: I did get a secret list. Will probably post on the site when I have time. I don’t have much time. Starting TV on TVA today).