Coco Gauff hopes coaching change can help her to another grand slam title
By Eleanor Crooks, PA Sport Correspondent, New York
Coco Gauff hopes a radical change on the eve of the US Open can help her challenge for another grand slam title.
The American, who won her first major title here in 2023, has been battling a misfiring serve and decided to part company with coach Matt Daly and hire biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan.
MacMillan guided Gauff’s rival Aryna Sabalenka through serious serving issues in 2022, and despite Daly helping her win the French Open only two months ago, the world number three did not want to delay.
Gauff hit 16 double faults in her most recent match, a defeat by Jasmine Paolini in Cincinnati last week, taking her 2025 tally to 320 – more than 100 above anyone else on the WTA Tour.
“It was a very sudden decision,” she said. “Gavin became available. I just felt this was the best decision for my game at least and I had to go with what I was feeling.
“I think Matt is a great coach and a great person and I 100 per cent love working with him. We obviously had a very successful partnership, but I’m just looking at long term.
“I know Gavin has had experience with this before so hoping I can just take on his knowledge and see what can happen.”
Gauff was out on the practice courts in the rain on Wednesday trying to work on her serve, and she knows time is short before her first-round match against Ajla Tomljanovic on Tuesday.
“I hope I can get it all together by then,” she said. “If not, I have the rest of this year to work on it. But I do know I needed to make a change, technical change to it, and I don’t want to waste time continuing doing the wrong things.”
Sabalenka was in an even bigger hole with her serve, and it did not take long working with MacMillan for the world number one to find a solution.
“He really helped me with the serve,” she said. “I really appreciate him for everything.
“Everyone is different. I was really desperate for changes, and I was ready to change whatever, to change my serve and to finally get back on track with my serve. So, for me, it was basically a couple of weeks, and I was sort of fixed.
“But everyone is different, and I wish them both the very best and hopefully everything can work out well for them.”