Gauff is flying in hardcourt season after teaming with Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert
The 19-year-old says a few tweaks upstairs have made a world of difference
Coco Gauff knows the dip will come. She is under no illusions that the wave – which has carried her to two hard-court titles in three weeks – will crash sooner or later.
‘It’s going to happen,’ Gauff says. All the 19-year-old asks? ‘Not this week,’ she says with a smile. Not when she arrives at the US Open as one of the favorites to land the title. The No 6 seed, still a teenager, is one of nearly two-dozen US women in the main draw. She isn’t even the highest seed from these shores – that honor goes to Jessica Pegula (3).
But Gauff is the American player generating the most hope and the most hype heading into this year’s tournament in New York. No matter that she has never gone past the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows. No matter that her last Grand Slam – at Wimbledon – ended in the first round. Gauff has found form at the right time. She might have found the right team, too
Under new pairing, Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert, the 19-year-old is flying. Her record during this hardcourt season reads: 11 wins, one defeat, two titles.
Gauff won her first WTA 500 title in Washington and then her first WTA 1000 title in Cincinnati. The next domino to fall could be her first Grand Slam.
And yet, the 19-year-old insists, little has changed. No great rethink, no huge overhaul. Instead, a few tweaks upstairs have made a world of difference.
