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Cori Gauff suggests Brad Gilbert's laid-back personality has impacted her in a way that she now has more fun on the court and that she is more relaxed in the moments where she used to feel very stressed out in the past. Gilbert, a former long-time coach of Andre Agassi, started working with Gauff in Washington.
After Gauff won Washington, she also made the Montreal quarterfinal and won her first WTA 1000 title in Cincinnati. Since adding Gilbert to her team, Gauff is 11-1. Now, 19-year-old Gauff is hoping to also become a Grand Slam champion at the US Open.
Gauff on the positive influence of Gilbert
"Yeah, I think for me with BG, I think I have a lot more confidence in my game. People can say you play good or the opposite, but I think hearing it from someone who probably has seen countless of my matches, I don't know how many he's maybe commentated on, but for sure watched countless of my matches and worked with some of the best players in the game, I think you just really believe it.
The way that he says it. Sometimes it's not always about the message. I don't think the message has changed for me, it's more about how the message was relayed to me. I think hearing that from his perspective helps a lot. He's a very relaxed guy.
He's very relaxed. Sometimes I'll be practicing, maybe practice points with another player, it's 30-All or deuce, he'll say something completely random like a joke or something. It's just little things like that that made me realize that tennis is serious but it's not as serious as sometimes my head makes it out to be.
I really should enjoy it out there. Pere, he's the same way. He's a little bit more into the game sometimes. I think being around Brad and learning I think we've just learned a lot just having fun. I think the last couple weeks I've had fun in the wins and losses, even that match against Jess where it was 5-All in the third, I got broken, I was still, like, enjoying the match and having fun, where other circumstances I would be stressed out.
I think he's really gotten me to have fun in those tough moments and embrace the hardships of tennis," Gauff said. In the US Open first round, Gauff plays against a qualifier.