Brad Gilbert has divulged that he enlisted the help of former world No 1 Andy Roddick to make a technical adjustment to Coco Gauff’s serve ahead of the 2024 season.
The esteemed coach explained former world No 1 Roddick, one of the game’s great servers, successfully helped simplify and abbreviate Gauff’s service motion.
Roddick was coached by former world No 4 Gilbert from June 2003 until the end of the 2004 season. During this period, he won the 2003 US Open, finished 2003 as the year-end No 1 and reached the 2004 Wimbledon final.
Gilbert joined Gauff’s coaching team ahead of the North American hard-court swing last year and helped the 19-year-old claim titles in Washington, Cincinnati, and at the US Open – during a sensational run.
Gauff, the world No 4, started her 2024 season by defending her title in Auckland, where she defeated Elina Svitolina in a three-set final. The American will take on Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the opening round of the 2024 Australian Open on Monday.
Speaking in his role as a commentator for ESPN at the Australian Open, Gilbert revealed how his former pupil had assisted his current charge during the off-season.
“I coached Andy at a young age. He’s got an amazing serve. And I was thinking, ‘what a great person to take a look at Coco’s serve’,” the 62-year-old American said.
“It’s kind of full circle. When I coached Andy, I was his age now. Andy was like Coco’s age. It was a great two days. Really helped things out, simplified Coco’s motion, abbreviated a little bit.”
Gauff also addressed the change she has made to her serve in her pre-tournament press conference.
“Yeah, I think for me, it was a very small change. It only took me, like, two days to get – maybe three – to get really comfortable with it. It was just to make the toss more consistent. Instead of throwing from so low to start up higher to make the toss more consistent,” the US Open champion explained.
“Yeah, other than the final in Auckland, I think I served really well. I hit probably the most aces I’ve hit consistently in matches or most unreturnables, I think I was at 80% or 90% first-serve points won. It was a good change. Hopefully I can continue that serving throughout.
“Sometimes I still have to remind myself of it. I think for the most part I was really open to it. I think my serve is something that when it’s on, it’s a really big weapon and can get me out of some situations. Just to make it more consistent was the goal.”
Roddick lauded the abilities of his former coach Gilbert while speaking on Tennis Channel last year: “Brad is a genius at taking very complex things and simplifying them, right? ‘We’re gonna focus on these two things out out of the gate, and we’re gonna do it all practice.’
“Then those things are covered, three days later we’re gonna add in something else. He’s very good at layering in information and kinda simplifying [the] game plan, he’s a master strategist.
“There will be no shot that any one of the opponents is gonna hit. Now there’s what they hit sometimes and what they hit under pressure, and he’s very good at finding the differentiators between those two because they’re not always the same.”
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