Coco Gauff-Brad Gilbert interaction shines light on new coaching from the stands rule
At one stage, Gauff told Gilbert: “Please just stop”, but the American said he would not have taken offence
Coco Gauff – Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic
On the eve of the US Open, Australia’s John Millman expressed a view that it turns out is held by many players on the Tours.
“Coaching from the sidelines adds zero to the product,” he wrote on Twitter. “Even more distracting watching the coaching on TV. Players should always have been left to figure it out themselves once they entered the arena..”
Gauff to Gilbert: “Please just stop”
And it seems Coco Gauff is a believer, too, that sometimes you should just work things out yourself. After losing serve for 5-3 in the second set of her fourth-round win over Caroline Wozniacki, Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert could be heard clearly telling his charge, “stay positive, move her around”. Gauff’s response? “Please just stop”.
Gauff went on to win the match in three sets but speaking on court afterwards, she explained that sometimes she just doesn’t want to hear more and more advice. “Sometimes I like to work things out for myself,” she said.
Now Gauff wasn’t complaining about Gilbert, or her other coach, Pere Riba, giving her advice. Their combination seems to be working brilliantly, with Gauff winning two titles this summer, including her biggest one yet, in Cincinnati.
In her press conference, she explained it further. “It wasn’t really towards him. There has been situations a couple times in the matches where Pere and Brad will both talk at the same time. I will say, Okay, stop talking because it jumbles my head,” she saiid.
“I think today I did say, ‘stop talking’, at one point because I was getting frustrated. It wasn’t really directed at him. It was just that I needed to reset on, like, my towel. When I go to my towel, sometimes it’s a reset, and sometimes I just need to wipe my hands. I think in that moment, I just didn’t want to hear anything. I just wanted to think about what I was doing.”
Tennis purists want players to figure things out themselves
It was a funny moment and Gauff made it clear that Gilbert and Pere will not have taken any offence. But it also shines a light on coaching from the sidelines, which is being trialled in all the Grand Slams the year.
It’s always been frowned upon by the tennis purists, who believe that it’s up to each player to figure things out as they go; it’s one of the things that make tennis such a great sport, they say.
Others will say that coaching from the stands has been happening all the time for years; especially in different languages that don’t always get picked up by the umpires. Patrick Mouratoglou was warned for it, famously, in the US Open for supposedly giving hand signals to Serena Williams; others speak loudly in various languages and get away with it.
Gauff said in press that she actually struggles to hear it, especially in the noisy Ashe Stadium, so it’s arguable whether it’s worth it. The TV cameras, though, are picking everything up and it’s undeniably interesting to hear some of the things they are saying and to look at the dynamic between player and coach.
At the French Open this year, Henri Leconte said coaching had always happened and that after initially thinking allowing it was a bad thing, he changed his mind.
Former world No 2 and Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska, now retired from the sport, said she thought it would help some players, but not others.
“Of course it’s less pressure if you’re able to say something and not to be afraid of warnings and all stuff like that. There are some players that are by themselves on the court and it doesn’t mean much. But for sure there are some players that they need this motivation, some tips and you know talking stuff. So for sure, that’s good for them.”
Millman: Change was pushed by coaches
Wimbledon tried to hold out but the new closer working between the Grand Slams meant they had to go along with it, against their instincts.
In the replies to Millman’s message, the Aussie also explained where the change had come from.
“Sat on the (ATP Player) Council when the change was introduced. It more so came about because the coaches pushed very hard for it,” he said.
So that’s where it came from. How it’s going down, and how things go in the future remains to be seen.
