Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, has become a full-fledged analyst and regularly appears on the Big T podcast alongside Coco Vandeweghe, Andrea Petkovic, and Mark Petchey to discuss the latest developments in tennis. In a recent episode of the podcast, Gilbert made a startling revelation about a moment from the 2023 US Open.
Apparently, Gilbert used his resources and connections at the time to move one of Gauff’s night matches to the daytime to reduce pressure on the American. Vandeweghe weighed in on the issue during the discussion and asked Gilbert to reflect on it.
“No, that was against [Jelena] Ostapenko. Yeah, I got it switched from a night match to 12 in the day. See, that’s where you have to, everyone once in a while, pull a couple of things to get something done,” Gilbert responded.
Gauff had won that quarterfinal match against Ostapenko ruthlessly, breezing past the Latvian 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals and eventually claim her maiden Grand Slam title later on Saturday.
Currently, the defending Roland Garros champion is having a tough time on tour, as inconsistent play and unexpected injuries have kept the American from claiming her first title of the year in multiple tournaments.
Her latest retirement came during the R3 match against Alexandra Eala at Indian Wells, where she was 2-0 and a set down to the Filipino rising star.
Coco Gauff Admitted Feeling ‘Bad’ for Eala After Mid-Match Retirement at Indian Wells
After withdrawing from the match against Eala due to a left forearm injury, Gauff admitted she felt bad for the 20-year-old and would have gone ahead and lost the set 6-0, but the pain kept worsening, ultimately forcing her to retire from the contest.
“She just told me I hope I feel better and things like that. I felt really bad to pull out, you never want to pull out, but more so for her because she was playing great tennis, and I don’t want to take anything away from the way that she was playing,” Gauff said in the post-game press conference.
“Yeah, I’d rather finish the match and lose 6-0, but at that point, I just felt that because the pain was getting worse and I didn’t know what was going on, I just felt it was better to stop. But I think she’s going to have a great tournament,” she further added.
The two-time Grand Slam champion had reassured her fans that she would do her best to recuperate from the left forearm issue and be back in time for the Miami Open (WTA 1000), which starts on March 16 in Florida.
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Fresh Injury Scare Rocks Carlos Alcaraz As Spaniard Forced To Skip Indian Wells Practice: Reports
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