Frances Tiafoe and Coco Gauff make coaching changes
Frances Tiafoe continues to seek the right combination on and off the court to get his performance back to when he played some of his best tennis defeating Rafael Nadal in the 2022 US Open. Part of that work is making changes to his team. Fellow American Coco Gauff reaped the benefits of changing up her team in the middle of 2023 resulting in a dominant summer of play and her first Grand Slam win at the 2023 US Open. She continues to make minor changes to offer her the best guidance.
Both recently announced coaching changes. Tiafoe recently split with Diego Moyano, the USTA coach he worked with in his younger years. Their work relationship lasted just a few months. Last December, Tiafoe ended his relationship with Wayne Ferreira who had been a member of his team since 2020.
Zina Garrison is to be the interm coach of Frances Tiafoe until end of Wimbledon. Currently is just until he finds a permanent coach. Zina has no intention to be a full time coach but is happy help Frances out whenever he needs it. She was with him in Houston helped with net game pic.twitter.com/9eTSWufTRP
— Venus & CoCo Fandom (@Vee_Co_Fandom) April 16, 2024
Unconfirmed reports indicate that Tiafoe is currently working with interim coach and former player Zina Garrison. Garrison would work with him through the end of Wimbledon until he found a permanent coach. Tiafoe recently played in the final of the Clay Court Championships but lost to fellow American Ben Shelton. Tiafoe has yet to make an official announcement hence this is still unconfirmed, but if it is true, Garrison could be a huge asset to Tiafoe in the short term.
Coco Gauff brings a familiar face back to her team
Gauff recently added her former coach Jean-Christophe Faurel to her team including Brad Gilbert. Faurel worked with her when she was 14 years old. The two stopped working together in 2020, but Gauff recently revealed that it was only a matter of time and circumstance before they would work together again.
She said: “It actually wasn’t either of our choices to stop working together. He was having visa issues and couldn’t get into the US for a long time, a couple years. So once he got that all figured out and it became a perfect opportunity and the timing worked to be back together, I knew when we had stopped I always wanted to go back to him when all of that stuff got sorted.”
In related coaching news, we nearly had a meeting between Gauff's old and new coaches in Stuttgart. Qinwen Zheng lost a heartbreaker to Marta Kostyuk. Zheng had five match points but lost in three sets. Had she come through, Zheng, coached by Gauff's former coach Pere Riba, would have played Gauff.
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