After struggling with her serve and bowing out in the fourth round at her second consecutive grand slam event, calls are growing for Coco Gauff to move on from her current coach.
The third-seed Gauff fell in three sets to 13-seed Emma Navarro in a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 where the 20-year-old hit more double faults (19) than winners (14) in Sunday’s defeat as she struggled with her serve all afternoon.
In the aftermath of that defeat, the calls have grown for Gauff to fire her coach, Brad Gilbert, and look in a different direction.
Enter Nick Kyrgios. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), one tennis fan suggested that the Australian should be the one to replace Gilbert.
Kyrgios, who frequents the social media platform, replied to the fan saying, ‘I’d coach her.’
After Coco Gauff’s defeat in the US Open, people are calling on Brad Gilbert to be fired
That’s led to Nick Kyrgios openly offering to step in and replace Gilbert as Gauff’s new coach
Gauff has been an admitted admirer of the Kyrgios, the former Wimbledon finalist, having defended him back at the 2022 US Open.
At that tournament, Kyrgios was at the height of his powers, but was also known for on-court misdemeanors.
He was given a code violation when he spat at his own players box against Benjamin Bonzi in the second round and then smashed his rackets in anger in the quarterfinals when he lost to Karen Khachanov.
In reaction to the spitting incident, a then 18-year-old Gauff said, ‘I know there’s things on the court that he does that people don’t agree with. I probably don’t agree with some things.
‘Overall I think he’s a nice person. At least he’s always been to me. I remember I first hit with him, he probably doesn’t remember this, I was 13 years old at Miami Open. He finished his practice, hit with me for, like, 30 minutes.
‘It’s just things like that that stands out for me. That’s why I feel like I can never dislike him.’
She added another example of Kyrgios hitting with her for an hour after a long practice with Francis Tiafoe at the Miami Open when she was 14-years-old.
‘It’s just moments like that that people don’t really see about him. So I think people paint him as a bad guy. I feel around the grounds, at least my experience of him, he’s not.
Gauff has been an admirer and a defender of the Australian tennis star in the past
Gauff struggled with her serve and made multiple unforced errors in her loss to Emma Navarro
‘I think in the end it helped me in the long run as a player hitting with him. He told me good things about my game. At that time I’m like, ‘Nick Kyrgios thinks I’m a good player.’ You start to believe that and gain confidence in that.’
As for Gilbert, he’s been publicly criticized by tennis fans and former coaches alike.
Rennae Stubbs, the former coach of 23-time grand slam winner Serena Williams, went on ESPN and had a discussion with their tennis panel which included Gilbert.
She openly questioned Gauff’s confidence and pointed out that her second serve was a significant ‘problem’.
‘Where is Coco’s confidence?,’ Stubbs wondered. ‘There’s no second serve, that’s the sign. And that’s a problem.’
Stubbs continued to critique the 20-year-old in front of her coach – something that she admitted was hard to do.
‘So under pressure, bad technique breaks down and her technique is…hard for me to say because Brad [Gilbert] is sitting here…but her technique, the elbow, is too low, the grip is a little weird as well.
‘So it’s hard for her to get that nice first serve and then the same or similar second serve,’ she said.
Rennae Stubbs openly criticized Gauff and Gilbert on ESPN after Gauff’s fourth round defeat
In the aftermath of her defeat, Gauff seemed to have the self-awareness that her serve was a point of struggle in this match.
Asked if she would consider hiring a biomechanics coach to consult on her service motion – as Aryna Sabalenka did to such great effect recently – Gauff replied: ‘For sure. I definitely want to get other opinions but also I think it’s sometimes more of an emotional, mental thing because if I go out on the practice court right now, I would make, like, 30 serves in a row. I’ve done it before.
‘It’s kind of a mental hurdle that I have to get over. But, yeah, I definitely want to look at other things because I don’t want to lose matches like this anymore.’
Gauff also made sure to praise her opponent, saying of Navarro, ‘She’s a great returner. She does a great job with just redirecting. She’s kind of an all-court player. She can do everything.’
