Does Coco Gauff need a new coach? Time to split with Brad Gilbert? 👍👎 | US Open 2024

Kim it's been another enthralling couple of days of tennis in New York City and I've got to be honest Coco goth if I'm Coco goth I must be pretty sick of the sight of Emma Navaro right now yeah two slams on the Trot she's lost to Emma Navaro and I was at the match at Wimbledon I remember Navaro getting the better of Coco there and it's happened yet again but I think this time especially Coco goof will be so unhappy with the way she played I mean it was largely kind of her own doing her unraveling the amount of the master of her own downfall wasn't it she really was and you know it's going to take a long hard look at her game and you know being able to perform on or not perform on a on a stage like this defending you know the biggest title that you've ever won 60 unforced errors 19 double faults you're not going to be defending your title with a performance like that are you Joel no Absol not and particularly if you look at her serve 19 double fults 11 double fults in the third set it really did feel like it was almost kind of impressive I think that it was as close as it it looked like on paper given as I say some of the the tennis that that Coco go was producing and it did really feel like a similar story particularly around the serve and also the forehand as well just kind of breaking down not having that reliability that that you need to you know to help you win matches it just wasn't there there was not a foundation to build upon and as a result it always kind of felt like she was playing catchup uh particularly in that third set yeah and we spoke last week about how she was going into her first round match trying not to have that pressure of being defending champion and and viewing it through a different lens you know the fact that she had something to defend meant that she won something last year and and therefore not to put too much kind of pressure on herself so I don't really know if if this was more of a mental pressure or it's just literally the execution from a technical standpoint um I mean which do you think Joel do you think it was pressure or did you just think it's kind of her shot making just wasn't there and it wasn't so much yeah I think I think I think the the pressure is is always there and I think pressure almost exacerbates technical issues or or technical flaws um I've been reading a lot of um literature about Arena sabalenka and her serve and how you know I think she she felt like it was a mental thing um but actually brought a biomechanic uh into into her team to kind of fine-tune her her serve and actually that that worked has worked wonders for her you know she's she's serving some of the best you some of the best she's ever done in in her career and I think from that point of view I think she realized although she may have thought it was mental actually there was a little bit of a techn techical aspect as well and I wonder with Coco go whether as I say first of all there's kind of technical things going on particularly with the second serve because the number of free points um she is giving away it just feels like it's too much and you sort of were getting to a point where you were wondering despite you know Coco goof and her ranking you were just wondering or hoping that she could just get the ball into the ten into into a quarter of the tennis court yeah I think that third game in the last set she threw in three double faults uh in in like the last four points of that game and it's just you know that that's when it just becomes cringe you know from a sort of audience perspective you just like holding your breath is it going to go over or not um I mean Emma Naro is a very Wily tricky opponent like she's knocking on the door of the top 10 now you know she's the 13th seed here so all credit to her because she stayed calm did what she needed to do whilst her opponent you know just could not perform on that stage and Navaro will play paa Bosa um to see if she can get through to you know her first Grand Slam semi-final so Navaro you know she's really making inroads at the slams and you know and this year she's really been kind of one of the breakout Stars so it's fantastic for her and you know also for the home fans it's still an American going through and we've also had you know Pula going through today but in terms of Coco go is she a worse player than this time last year like has she actually regressed do you think in the last 12 months or is this just part of the inevitable cycle of one's career I think I think there's certainly been you know let's let's first of all say she's still very very young and um what she's doing on the tour is you know is incredible at at her age and the maturity that she shows on the court but I think what we've seen over the last 12 months and particularly in the last few months that I say we I don't think we've seen necessarily Coco go kind of improve her game I think it shows that there are new levels that she needs to discover to I think get back to that form she was in you know last summer and she needs to address I think these she needs to address these issues whether you know that's with her coach Brad Gilbert whether that's you know creating a different team environment and and bringing like a I don't know a bio sabalenka biomechanic coach on board um I I don't know what it is but it feels like like there are some clear issues here uh that have been around for a while but they just have not for whatever reason been addressed now I understand that some of these things are very fundamental and are hard to change perhaps midseason um these do not feel necessarily like things you could just kind of Tinker with but it certainly feels like Coco go at the moment needs a new approach when it comes to her serve because it really is you know holding her back and I think that you know there are positive success stories with relation to as say sabalenka as verev as well on the men's side who've had these sorts of issues and have come you know storming back to play some of the best tenis in their career so I don't see why Coco goof can't do it but the worry I have is at the moment I say it's not been this is not necessarily a fresh issue but we've sort of just seen it just be a recurring and I don't know if there's been a hesitancy from the the coaching side with Brad kilbert to just basically do nothing about it yeah or sorry not maybe not do anything about it but just sort of work work within those limitations yeah it's like how much do you change like is it you know do you fundamentally change it from the bottom up like maybe that's a longer term overhaul or you just trying to yeah like work within a narrow kind of frame so it will be interesting if decision decisions come with regards to Brad Gilbert and his role and his influence in in due course I don't know but something maybe you know I I do quite like the idea of you know doing the sabalenka route getting a biomechanics coach like you said maybe she's already tried it and and we're just not aware of it but you know it certainly feels like there are issues fundamental to her game that are just not working at the moment and she needs kind of A New Perspective and I think the thing with Navaro as you said you know she's uh she's she's she's broken onto the scene you know this year and the Wimbledon result I think for a lot of fans and probably for coko go as well Navaro was a lot more of an unknown quantity we didn't really know how good of a tennis player that she is whereas coming into the US Open she would have been a lot more of a known quantity because Coco go as I say like she suffered she was she you know she was defeated by her at Wimbledon so again not to sort of take those learnings on and be the master of your own downfall I think will be as I say incredibly disappointing from her but you know she's such a strong character very levelheaded very mature she'll want to kind of get back to kind of where she was so I have no doubt that she will kind of rise rise from this uh this low moment absolutely