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After a disappointing US Open, Coco Gauff made changes to her game and her coaching staff. The results have been undeniable.
Coco Gauff won the year-end WTA Finals in November, then led the U.S. team to a United Cup victory in January. She had just lost in the fourth round of the US Open in front of a capacity crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium to fellow American"Mentally I gave it, and emotionally, I gave it my all," Gauff later told reporters, before faulting her serving woes for the final result.
The 20-year-old Gauff had recorded 19 double faults in the match, and her serve had been a constant struggle throughout the tournament. In her news conference, she vowed to fix it and said she would consider working with a mechanics coach and getting other opinions. " kind of a mental hurdle that I have to get over," Gauff said."But, yeah, I definitely want to look at other things because I don't want to lose matches like this anymore." And since that devastating September day in New York, Gauff has lived up to her promise. Not only has she improved her serve, she hasn't lost much either. The 2025 season -- which technically began during the last week of December -- has gotten off to a strong start, and Gauff already looks to be a What can we expect from Gauff in the new year, and what has changed since last season? Let's break it down before the"Happy Slam"Few entered the 2024 season with as many expectations as Gauff. Coming off her first major title at the 2023 US Open and having won three other tournaments on the season, Gauff opened last year ranked at No. 3 and showed few signs of slowing down. She kicked off 2024 with her second consecutive title at Auckland following a dominant run in the tournament and impressive three-set win overThough she did reach the semifinals at Indian Wells in March, the next few months on the hard court proved challenging for Gauff. But she turned things around on clay with semifinal appearances at the Italian Open in May and then later that month at the French Open. She also won her first major doubles title at Roland Garros alongsideBut at Wimbledon -- the site of her breakthrough in 2019 -- she fell to Navarro in the fourth round. Back on clay weeks later for the Olympics in Paris, Gauff was given the honor of being one of Team USA's flag bearers for the opening ceremony, alongside LeBron James, but she was unable to win a medal -- something she had called a goal all year -- despite playing in all three draws. Gauff then won just one match at the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open, the latter of which she was the defending champion, during her preparations for the US Open. She later admitted both events had been somewhat"mentally draining" following the Olympics but insisted she was"excited" and"ready to go" once she got to New York. But it was not to be. Following the round-of-16 exit at the US Open and falling to a season-low No. 6 in the rankings, Gauff returned to play later that month for the 1000-level China Open. And everything seemed to click for Gauff in Beijing, as she battled through a star-studded field and won the title with a rousing 6-1, 6-3 victory overin the final. She reached the semifinals the following week at the Wuhan Open and ended the season with the trophy at the WTA Finals. Gauff didn't drop a match in the group stage at the year-end event and recorded wins over Gauff earned a $4.8 million paycheck for the title and ended 2024 back at No. 3 and as the year's highest-paid female athlete in the world,After the frustrating result at the US Open, Gauff parted ways with her head coach, Brad Gilbert. The two had been working together since the start of the hard-court summer season in 2023, and he had been by her side for her maiden Slam title. But despite their promising start together, few were surprised by the move after her rough summer stretch in 2024. Gauff even expressed her frustration at times with Gilbert, most notably during a heated exchange during the loss against Navarro at Wimbledon in which she yelled,"Tell me something, you guys aren't saying anything," to her box during the match. "I think we had a game plan going in," Gauff later told reporters."I felt that it wasn't working. I don't always ask for advice on the box. Today was one of those rare moments where I felt I didn't have solutions. I don't want to say I didn't have any because I think I'm a capable player of coming up with some I think today mentally there was a lot going on. I felt like I wanted more direction from the box.", to work in conjunction with her longtime coach Jean-Christophe Faurel. Gauff took several weeks off from competition for a training block ahead of the China Open -- her first since before the clay season began in the spring -- to implement changes and refocus. In an interview soon after she brought Daly on,"I think it was just time to do a reset, a refresh, and add some things in my game that I felt like I need to do to have a better season next year," Gauff said. Daly is considered a grip specialist, and per a post on GripMD, a company in which he co-founded, he works most specifically on grip changes. Gauff confirmed the two were working on thatMany around the game took notice of some of those adjustments. Former world No. 1 and 2003 US Open champion"One thing I have noticed is that the serve looks way better, and I know she double-faulted in Wuhan, but the grip is better," Roddick said."It is more straight on and what I am seeing is that you are not getting the double faults where one is 3 feet below the net line and the next one is 5 feet long. The variance in misses is way less. ".... She's made a little bit of a grip change on her serve; I think it looks way better. I think as the year progressed, she kind of started turning the crank over and over and over a little bit more and maybe got herself into a bit of a bad habit. So credit for Daly for realizing that and switching it. forehand looks like she's getting the racket back and prepared a little bit more often so she doesn't have to do as much work late in the swing and play catch up."Daly declined an interview request for this piece in December, saying he preferred to stay in the background and let Gauff speak for herself and choose to share what they were working on. But he added she was"very mature for her age" and had been a"pleasure to work with so far."Gauff kicked off her 2025 season on Dec. 29 -- yes, in 2024 because, well, tennis -- and made a statement with a 6-3, 6-2 win at the United Cup over 2021 US Open finalistin a mixed doubles match. Once again, Gauff was victorious as the American duo defeated the Canadians 7-6, 7-5. Fritz later thanked Gauff for"carrying the team" after her performance in both singles and doubles., Muchova and then Swiatek in the final -- all in straight sets -- as she helped lead the Americans to a title over Poland. Despite having a 3-11 career record against Swiatek, Gauff has now won their past two matches and looked firmly in control throughout their clash in Sydney with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. Gauff was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.Gauff opted to not participate at the 500-level Adelaide event the week before the Australian Open, instead choosing to arrive early in Melbourne and begin training on site. She was spotted practicing with two-time championWhat can we expect from her at the Australian Open, and what are her chances to win the whole thing? That's the million-dollar -- or $2.17 million, to be exact -- question. As mentioned before, Gauff recorded her best result at the tournament last year by reaching the semifinals, and as the No. 3 seed, she certainly looks poised to do so yet again. However, repeating that feat, or going even further, won't be easy., who won the 2020 tournament. Kenin upset Gauff in the opening round at Wimbledon in 2023 -- their last meeting -- and is capable of doing it again. If Gauff wins, her road would only get more difficult. A slew of notable names, includingIf Gauff were to make it that far, she would potentially set up a clash with Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion who won the title in Brisbane earlier this month, in the semifinals. Swiatek is on the opposite side of the draw, as are But Gauff sounded confident about the state of her game going into the year's first major following her performance at the United Cup. "I have the belief that I'm one of the best players in the world," she said after the final against Swiatek."And when I play good tennis, I'm hard to beat."
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