Coco Gauff might need to take Rennae Stubbs up on her offer
By Lee Vowell
What is going on with Coco Gauff? After a fantastic run in the summer of 2023, the 20-year-old could not even reach a quarterfinal over the summer of 2024. She has even dropped in the WTA rankings outside of the top five. There are only a handful of tournaments left this year so maybe Gauff will wait until the beginning of 2025 to make an important decision.
That decision is who to hire as her new full-time coach. For a year, Gauff worked with Brad Gilbert and the start of the relationship helped lead to Gauff's most successful run, including winning the US Open last year. By the time Gauff washed out too early in this year's US Open, Gilbert was gone.
The WTA No. 6 has had an inconsistent and error-filled forehand and has struggled with her serve greatly over the course of the year. Her second serve is a mess and Gilbert should have been able to fix it and didn't. Maybe he was too busy focusing on his commentating duties for broadcasts as he never stopped doing that even while working with Gauff.
Rennae Stubbs would love to have the opportunity to coach Coco Gauff
Gauff will probably have her pick of available coaches as she is so young and so athletically gifted, but, more importantly, appears to have the drive and work ethic to try to continue to be a high-level player for the next decade-plus. She would be a coach's dream.
Tennis commentator and coach Rennae Stubbs knows this and openly said on her podcast that she would jump at the opportunity to work with Gauff. Stubbs has already been critical of Gauff's serve while Gilbert was still coaching the young player so Stubbs probably has an idea of how to fix it.
Stubbs has worked with great players before as well. She was a short-time coach for Serena Williams as Williams played during the 2022 US Open before she lost in the third round.
Stubbs said, "Of course, I would (coach Gauff). I mean I wouldn’t say no to the opportunity with a great player, there’s no way. But that’s not a decision for me to make. I love Coco, I think she’s an incredible kid...I think she’s an incredibly hard worker, I respect the heck out of her. She has only ever been an amazing person to be around. She responds to you, she looks you in the eye."
Gauff seemingly just needs a few fixes that Gilbert was unable or unwilling to help with. She should become a multi-time Grand Slam winner. She just needs to find the right coach to help her get better.