How was Coco Gauff’s 2024 season? Gauff’s 2024 season can be divided into two halves, one that covers her journey until Roland Garros, and the other from Grass Swing onwards. While the first half was good for the American star, the second half crushed her as she made early-round exits in most of the tournaments. This finally prompted Gauff to make changes to her coaching staff, as she replaced Brad Gilbert with Matt Daly. And the progress that she has made already has impressed former pros Prakash Amritraj, Paul Annacone and Mark Petchey.

Gauff entered the China Open with her new coach, Daly. While everyone thought that it would take her some time to get back on track after parting ways with Gilbert, that wasn’t the case. The 20-year-old beat Katie Boulter to set up a clash with Naomi Osaka in the Round of 16. However, what was more astonishing was the fact that Gauff played a relatively cleaner game than before. Firing 5 aces, and just 3 double faults, undoubtedly stunned everyone, especially Prakash Amritraj, Paul Annacone and Mark Petchey. They discussed Gauff’s progress under the new coach on the Tennis Channel Live Podcast on September 30th.

Talking about Gauff and the other players who made a change to their support staff recently, Annacone said, “You have to respect the players, they are trying to get better. Because they realize that it’s not a destination, it’s truly a journey. There are things you can improve on, there are always new ways to create opportunities to get better on the court… They are just trying to get better”

After her semi-final appearance at the French Open, Gauff struggled to get through the initial rounds of the tournaments. She made early-round exits at the Wimbledon Championships, the Canadian Open, the Cincinnati Masters, and the US Open, losing to lower-ranked players back to back. However, as Annacone said, it’s the ‘journey’ which matters and the players have to keep evolving all the time. Gauff herself knows she has a lot of things to work on, to improve her game.

Coco Gauff details her aspirations under her new coach Matt Daly

That sight of Coco Gauff looking at her coach Brad Gilbert during the Wimbledon Open R4 to get some advice on tackling Emma Navarro highlighted her struggle in the tournament. The American star desperately wanted to win. However, luck wasn’t on her side, as her fellow compatriot ousted her, not once, but twice. After the Wimbledon Championships, Navarro beat Gauff at the US Open as well, in a three-setter in the Round of 16. Though water has now flown under the bridge, Gauff is focused on improving every aspect of her game, to get back on the winning track.

She detailed her aspirations as she said, “There are other parts of my game that I want to work on, too, but the focus right now is the serve. When I serve well, I play pretty well. For me, that’s the basis for my game.”

Perfect clarity on what she wants would certainly aid Gauff’s quest to get back to the top 3 in the rankings. Her China Open performance definitely indicates that she is heading in the right direction. Hopefully, we will see her win a Grand Slam again, sooner rather than later.