Coco Gauff ‘happy’ with coaching decision as she reveals new mentor is ‘already making significant progress’
Coco Gauff says she hired Matt Daly as a coach as she is confident he will help her to become a complete player, adding that it was important to find someone who worked well with Jean-Christophe Faurel.
Following a disappointing North American hard-court swing that saw her fail to defend her Cincinnati Open and US Open trophies, Gauff parted ways with Brad Gilbert on the back of her fourth-round exit from the final Grand Slam of the year in New York.
Gilbert had been part of her team since July 2023 and during that time she won her maiden major, the US Open, and also rose to a career-high No 2 in the WTA Rankings.
But both parties felt it was time to move on after a disappointing few months as the American slipped to No 6 in the rankings.
Gauff didn’t wait long to replace Gilbert as she added Daly to her team for the Asian swing.
The Daly-Faurel partnership has had instant success as Gauff reached the final of the China Open and following her semi-final win over Paula Badosa, the 20-year-old was asked what her new coach has added to the team.
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“What a coach has to offer, I think it depends on what point in your career you’re at, what you’re looking for,” she said. “Obviously right now I’m very young, so I’m looking just for someone to help me develop in the long-term process, try to help make my game as complete as I can be.
“For me, I mean, with the relationship, adding Matt to the team, we literally just started like two weeks ago, so really only had a week to work with training-wise, then we had to come to China and the tournament.
“We’re working on a lot of developmental things. He’s great. Obviously I still have JC on the team. For me, it was trying to find a mix of two people that work together well. So far, I mean, it’s obviously working result-wise.
“Just even behind the scenes and everything you guys don’t see, I think it’s great. I’m happy with my decision regardless if I lost [in the] first round or in a final this week. So yeah, I’m happy to have him on the team. I feel like he’s already making significant progress. He and JC are working well.”
