Gauff won the Cincinnati Open last week — definitely a good start to the US Open. Credit: REuters/Karim Elgazzar
Friday night in New York City, the Ziegfield Ballroom hosted a lavish party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Women's Tour. The keynote speaker was Coco Gauff, a 19-year-old American who has long been considered the future of the sport.
A articulate, charming and athletic 100m hurdler. Four years ago, Gauff beat Venus Williams en route to the fourth round of Wimbledon. That summer, she made a splash not only with her fearless kicking the ball, but also with her charisma and uncanny maturity.
Succumbing to the hype, I described Gauff as a meteor that would lead to the extinction of the older and more established members of the Planet Tennis. However, this proved to be a premature verdict. It took Gauf a little more than three years to reach the top ten in the world. With a clumsy forehand and a retriever mindset, she showed no sign of emulating Martina Hingis — or even Emma Radukan — by winning major tournaments as a teenager.
Until now, it is. Five months after his 20th birthday, Gauff comes to New York after his first real achievement: winning the 1,000-point Cincinnati title a week ago. The timing is impeccable because this is the first US Open since Serena Williams retired. According to Martina Navratilova, who will commentate the tournament for Sky Sports, we are approaching the handover.
“I think Coco is ready for the symbolic passing of the torch from Serena,” Navratilova said. “There will be a big, big void due to Serena not playing. We felt it at Wimbledon but will feel it even more at the US Open because now we know she won't be coming back as she has her second child. And so all the attention will be on Koko, although there are many American players who are capable of making a big wave.
If Gauff were Wimbledon 2019 history despite only making it to the fourth round, something similar could be said for Serena Williams at last year's US Open. Each of Williams' three matches at the Arthur Ashe Arena featured the intensity and aura of a Grand Slam final. In her last fight against Ayla Tomljanovic, she fought back five match points in heroic style before finally giving up.
How could this year's event follow such drama? Well, it would certainly be helpful if Gauff could live up to her newfound status as one of the bookies' favorites. She is third in line behind Iga Swiatek – the world No. 1, whom she finally beat in Cincinnati for the eighth time – and the mighty Belarusian Arina Sobolanko.
“Gilbert saved her emotional energy”
What then changed for Gauf? This question is easy to answer, because over the summer she completely rethought her coaching plans. Putting her father Corey on the back burner, she hired young Spanish coach Pere Riba in June and then supplemented him with a much bigger name — Brad Gilbert — after suffering a crushing defeat in the first round at Wimbledon.
Gilbert, now the most known as a chatty commentator for ESPN, is a true coach of the royal family: the man who has already led Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to the US Open title, even if he never got along with the young Andy Murray. If Gauff competes in New York over the next two weeks, Gilbert will become the first coach to win both the men's and women's crowns.
Gilbert is considering a rare coaching double. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon
“Brad was a very smart player,” Navratilova said of the man whose book Winning Ugly is an essential textbook for any club hacker. “He did not have many weapons, but he knew how to hide his weaknesses and entered the top ten in the world.
«Working with Coco, Brad said, 'OK, the forehand isn't that good.' like a backhand, everyone knows that. But that's how we deal with it, and that's how we do it better.» The funny thing is, if your backhand is your strength and you miss two backhands in a match, you're like, «It's okay, no problem.» you miss two right hands and think, “Oh my God, my right hand went bad again, what should I do?”
“So it’s kind of a mental game that you can play with yourself so you don’t panic. Brad really helped her with that and also helps her save energy emotionally. The expectations of her were so high that she put a lot of pressure on herself. And her parents too: they went crazy emotionally [in the penalty area], every match and every point. I say, «Guys, you have 20 years ahead of you, so save some of that energy.»
“It’s great that Koko has such intensity,” Navratilova concluded, “but you still have to control it. Brad realizes that a tennis player is like an hourglass: he has a limited amount of sand to work with. So don't open your spout so wide, and then you can have a little more control.»
«Now I understand that everyone loses»
Navratilova's analysis was supported by Gauf's own comments last week. When asked about Gilbert's influence on her, she described him as «a very laid back guy. Sometimes I play practice points with another player, it's a 30-all or a deuce, and he says something completely random, like a joke.”
This response surprised many, given Gilbert's status as a player. a tireless chatterbox and maniacal tweeter who gives out bizarre nicknames to every player he mentions. («Sloan Ranger» for Sloane Stevens, for example, or «Erudite» for Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova).
But Gilbert is a world expert in the art of silencing his inner demons, a skill that every successful tennis player must master. Agassi wrote in his autobiography how, during their first practice together, Gilbert told him that not every punch had to be accurate; instead, rally balls can be deflected, which will give your opponent a chance to miss. “I find peace in his assertion that perfectionism is voluntary,” said Agassi.
It was in 1994, when Gilbert was finishing his 14-year professional career. Now, almost 30 years later, he teaches similar lessons to Gauf. As she said on Friday: “I used to think too much about the loss and let this loss affect me for several weeks. Now I understand that everyone loses, even the best of the best.”
In recent weeks, the new Gauff model has sounded much more relaxed. Meanwhile, her on-court performances are getting more assertive, with less of the side-to-side sprinting that has become her hallmark. Her much-maligned forehand, filled with unusually heavy topspin, is starting to look more like a weapon than a hindrance. Perhaps the meteor will finally land.
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