{"id":290493,"date":"2023-09-10T17:34:29","date_gmt":"2023-09-10T17:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=290493"},"modified":"2023-09-10T17:34:29","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T17:34:29","slug":"brad-gilbert-turned-gauff-from-wimbledon-first-round-loser-to-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/tennis\/brad-gilbert-turned-gauff-from-wimbledon-first-round-loser-to-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Brad Gilbert turned Gauff from Wimbledon first round loser to champion"},"content":{"rendered":"
Six weeks after becoming a surprise coaching hire, Brad Gilbert helped turn Coco Gauff from Wimbledon first round loser into a hugely popular US Open champion.<\/p>\n
There are faint echoes of what happened with another teenage winner of recent vintage, Emma Raducanu, who teamed up with Andrew Richardson in the summer of 2021. By mid-September she had enjoyed an extraordinary triumph at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n
Except this time the greater experience already acquired by Gauff means that she is unlikely to repeat the mistake of immediately getting rid of her coach.<\/p>\n
American legend Chris Evert was among those purring over the 19 year-old Floridian’s New York win, and she believes that it will be very much in Gauff’s favour that she has been a more gradual developer, having already been playing at the highest level since the age of fifteen.<\/p>\n
‘I am glad Coco did not win as a younger teenager because it can be a bad thing for players. There are examples of that, look at Emma Raducanu,’ Evert told ESPN. ‘ It puts a lot of pressure on the player because they are not emotionally developed yet and they cannot handle it. Coco is now ready to win.’<\/p>\n
Gilbert – the 62 year-old veteran brought in at the start of August to coach alongside Spaniard Pere Riba – is known as a master tactician, but has previously worked mainly in the men’s game, alongside a media career.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Brad Gilbert helped turn Coco Gauff from Wimbledon loser into US Open champion<\/p>\n
He wrote a seminal manual on tennis strategy entitled Winning Ugly, and his latest client initially needed to do that against Aryna Sabalenka as she battled her way through the first two error-strewn sets in Saturday’s final, before tightening up her whole game in the decider.<\/p>\n
As Evert observed: ‘She didn’t have her A-plus game and she won her match. It is her first Major and in her own country which makes it even more special.<\/p>\n
‘She is an extraordinary tennis player and an even more extraordinary human being. We have seen that at a young age. She has spoken out on important issues, she has a social conscience. I think her parents have done a great job.<\/p>\n
‘They have given her space at 19 years old to get Brad Gilbert and make her own decision. That was not easy for Candi and Corey.’<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gauff, 19, clinched a 2-6 6-3 6-2 win on a delirious Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday<\/p>\n