Coco Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert recently compared the 2023 US Open champion to a stock, opining that she would still make for a good investment. Gilbert’s comparison came in the wake of Gauff’s disappointing loss to compatriot Emma Navarro in the fourth round of the 2024 US Open.
Gauff’s title defense at Flushing Meadows had gone relatively well up until her fourth-round outing. The 20-year-old came out on top against Varvara Gracheva, Tatjana Maria and Elina Svitolina across the first three rounds, dropping only one set. However, against Navarro, the World No. 3’s title defense collapsed, primarily due to her dismal play.A whopping 60 unforced errors saw Gauff’s hopes of retaining the US Open title fade fast. Meanwhile, Navarro, to her credit, stayed rock-solid throughout the contest. Even though Gauff showed some signs of recovery when she took the second set, her woeful third-set performance, consisting of 11 of her career-high 19 double faults, proved to be the final nail in the coffin.
The final scoreline; Navarro won 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Unsurprisingly, Coco Gauff’s poor serve and wayward forehand drew criticism and many suggested that her collaboration with Brad Gilbert, the ex-coach of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray, isn’t working out anymore.Recently, Gilbert featured as a guest on ‘Squawk Box’, a CNBC show, and opined that it would still be wise to invest in Coco Gauff if she were a stock. The 63-year-old lauded Gauff for the work she puts in towards improving herself and was optimistic about her future.
“It’s been a good 14 months. She’s accomplished a lot and the great thing is, she has huge upside at 20. If she was a stock, you still put a buy rating on her. She’s a great kid. She works hard, and good things will happen for her,” Gilbert said.
The iconic coach went on to reflect on the World No. 3’s disappointing US Open title defense, opining that it ended with a loss to a player who is currently producing “great tennis”.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great tournament for her, but the player that beat her, Navarro, is playing great tennis. She’s in the semis. Who knows? Maybe she’s got a legitimate shot to win it,” Gilbert added.
Andy Roddick, the 2003 US Open men’s singles champion and a former pupil of Gilbert, also assessed Gauff’s serve struggles in the aftermath of her fourth-round collapse at Flushing Meadows.
“There is no doubt that second serve is in Coco Gauff’s head” – Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick, a former ATP World No. 1, briefly worked with Gilbert to improve Coco Gauff’s serve ahead of the ongoing tennis season. Recently, Roddick assessed the World No. 3’s serving performance against Navarro. According to the 2003 US Open men’s singles champion, Gauff would be mindful of her second serve, which is an obvious weakness in her game considering the 19 double faults it produced against Navarro.
“I feel like this has been such a whirlwind for her. There is no doubt that second serve is in her head. No doubt if Corey and Coco were sitting here right now they would probably tell you the same thing. I know Brad [Gilbert] would tell me the same thing not because he has, just because I’m sure he would,” Roddick said on the Served With Andy Roddick podcast.
The fourth-round loss to Navarro, along with a string of poor results in the buildup to the hardcourt Major, will see Coco Gauff drop out of the top 5 in the WTA Tour rankings once the new rankings come out after the conclusion of the US Open.
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