Serena Williams’ former coach blasts Coco Gauff’s form in admittedly awkward moment in front of ousted third seed’s trainer Brad Gilbert

Coco Gauff’s stunning exit in the fourth round of the women’s singles at the US Open has led many to pick apart her game in the aftermath of the loss.

The three-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.

Among the people who took the chance to criticize Gauff was Rennae Stubbs, the former coach to 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams.

Stubbs went on ESPN and had a discussion with their tennis panel which included Brad Gilbert, the man who currently serves as Gauff’s coach.

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.

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.’

Fans have been recently clamoring for Gauff to part ways with Gilbert after a season which saw her reach the semifinals at the Australian Open and at Roland Garros, but also resulted in exits to Navarro in the fourth round both at Wimbledon and at the US Open.

She did, notably, win the doubles title with Katerina Siniakova at the French Open – a highlight to a topsy turvy year.

One possible candidate to replace Gilbert is Nick Kyrgios, who openly offered to coach the 20-year-old on X (formerly Twitter).

When suggested as a possible Gilbert replacement by a user on the social media platform, the Australian said, ‘I’d coach her.’

Kyrgios is currently serving as a courtside reporter for ESPN.