US Open: Coco Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert gives his verdict on the American’s progress amid criticism

Coco Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert has expressed his confidence that “good things will happen” for American star after her difficult 2024 US Open campaign.

The former world No 4 highlighted the fact Gauff has “accomplished a lot” during the pair’s player-coach relationship and pointed to the 20-year-old’s “huge upside.”

Gauff’s title defence at the US Open ended with a three-set defeat to world No 12 Emma Navarro in the last 16 at Flushing Meadows. It was her second consecutive loss to Navarro at a Grand Slam after a straight-set defeat at the same stage of Wimbledon in July.

Criticism has been levelled at both Gauff and Gilbert over the American’s serving issues in New York after she hit 19 double faults and made just 46% of her first serves against Navarro.

Gilbert joined Gauff’s coaching team ahead of the Citi Open in Washington last year and the collaboration led to an instant positive impact on the young star’s results.

Gauff won the Citi Open without dropping a set, before adding her first WTA 1000 title in Cincinnati and her maiden Grand Slam crown at the 2023 US Open in September.

The 20-year-old won her only title since last year’s US Open in Auckland in January, while she was also a semi-finalist at the Australian Open and French Open this year.

Gauff has endured a challenging run this summer, having not reached a quarter-final in her last five events, and she will drop from third to sixth in the WTA Rankings when they update.

In an interview with CNBC, Gilbert spoke about his intention to not be too affected by the highs and lows that come with coaching a player.

“Obviously you hurt for your players, you want the best and sometimes things don’t go the way you want,” said the American.

“But you know, I try not to get too elated when my player’s doing well, and then you try not to get too down.

“Sometimes they catch you with your head down a little bit and it didn’t go as well here as we’d like, but you know what, the sun comes up the next day and you gotta be positive and hopefully things will get better.”

Gilbert, who previously coached American greats Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, also assessed his time working with Gauff so far.

“It’s been a good 14 months,” he continued. “She’s accomplished a lot and the great thing is, she has huge upside at 20. If she was a stock, you still put a buy rating on her. She’s a great kid, she works hard and good things will happen for her.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great tournament for her, but the player that beat her, Navarro, is playing great tennis. She’s in the semis. Who knows? Maybe she’s got a legitimate shot to win it. We’ve still got [Jessica] Pegula left.”