Coco Gauff’s former coach breaks his silence on split ahead of US Open
Coco Gauff’s former coach Matt Daly has broken his silence after the pair’s partnership ended on the eve of the 2025 US Open.
It was revealed on Wednesday that Gauff, the world No 3, had parted ways with American coach Daly.
Gauff appointed Daly in September 2024 shortly after splitting with former coach Brad Gilbert, who had helped her win her maiden major at the 2023 US Open.
The American enlisted the help of Daly, who is known as a grip specialist, as she looked to adjust her serving technique.
The collaboration brought about a swift impact as Gauff won the China Open WTA 1000 event and the WTA Finals in Riyadh in a superb end to 2024.
Gauff started the 2025 campaign by helping the United States win the United Cup and — after a mixed run on hard courts — she reached back-to-back clay-court WTA 1000 finals in Madrid and Rome.
The 21-year-old secured her second Grand Slam title at the 2025 French Open, where she beat world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
Gauff then suffered an opening round exit at Wimbledon and was plagued by double faults at the hard-court WTA 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati, where she lost in the fourth round and quarter-finals respectively.
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Daly confirmed to Bounces that the decision for him to leave Gauff’s team was taken “recently” while briefly addressing the split.
“Only have good things to say about Coco, enjoyed working with her,” said Daly.
Gauff has started working with Gavin MacMillan, a biomechanical coach who helped Sabalenka overcame major issues with her serve. The singles events at the 2025 US Open begin on Sunday.
In a recent interview with Tennis365, legendary coach Rick Macci called for Gauff to work with a biomechanical expert to change her service motion.
“This has to be science-based and it has to be done from a biomechanical point of view,” Macci explained. “And I’ve looked at her serve from every different direction and right now, because she’s been doing this since a little kid, the muscle memory is baked in extra crispy. She has very, very long arms, she has a very loose arm.
“So, what I would do, and even my partner Dr. Brian Gordon — who has his PhD in Biomechanics, he did his thesis on this stuff — I would have her go to a platform stance, right now she does a pinpoint. And I’m not saying it’s wrong. I mean, [there are] world class servers [who use] pinpoint.
“But the corrective technique has to jolt the muscle memory, and I gotta re-programme the reflexes from the beginning. So, in a platform stance, it’d be like fresh out of the oven. And then from there, the whole timing would be very different, her vertical component would be easier to correct – that means her upward movement.
“So all these things that you see – opening up too soon, her head coming down, people talking about the toss and all this – that’s not the issue. They’re looking at it wrong.
“And I have no doubt, in one hour, this could be corrected. But as long as she keeps doing pinpoint, it’s all just gonna be like, just a modification of something that she’s just wired.”
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