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Mats Wilander says coach Brad Gilbert "gets what talent means" and it is showing perfectly with the work he has been able to do with Cori Gauff in such a short time. Gilbert, a former long-time coach of Andre Agassi, started working with 19-year-old Gauff on a trial basis at the start of the North American hard court swing in Washington.
Their first tournament together could not have gone any better as Gauff ended up winning the Washington title. After Washington, Gauff made the Montreal quarterfinal before winning her first WTA 1000 title last week in Cincinnati.
So far this summer, Gauff is 11-1 on hard courts. Wilander believes Gilbert quickly helped Gauff have a better understanding of how to act and react in certain situations. Also, Wilander thinks that helped Gauff "loosen up" on the court and that's why the American has been playing some of her best tennis lately.
Wilander on Gauff's early success with coach Gilbert
"I think the biggest difference with Coco can be left unsaid because I think that Brad Gilbert is a coach who understands what talent looks like. He understands what talent means.
And talent doesn't mean a person who has great hands and great anticipation, but it is someone that really has that inner drive. And I think he understands that. He understood it with Andy Murray, even though they most probably didn't break up on great terms.
But that's part of Brad Gilbert. He gets in there, he gets into their heart and their mind, and he's not going to take no for an answer. If you say no, then he's on to the next person. And I think he did that with Murray. He helped Andy Roddick win the US Open.
He helped Andre Agassi come back and win the career Grand Slam. He gets what talent means," Wilander told Eurosport.