NEW YORK — Some quick news to report as the U.S. Open approaches: the top American player has made a change to her team on the eve of her country’s biggest tournament.

Coco Gauff looking displeased in Cincinnati. (Photo by ZUMA/Alamy)

WTA No. 3 Coco Gauff has parted with one of her two coaches, Matt Daly.

Daly confirmed the news to Bounces, saying that the decision had happened “recently” but wanting to let Gauff be the one to speak about her decision.

“Only have good things to say about Coco, enjoyed working with her,” Daly told Bounces.

ESPN also inaccurately reported on air that Gauff had parted with her other coach, J.C. Faurel, but he remains on her team and was still on court with Gauff today at the U.S. Open.

Any shake-up would have been a considerable surprise months ago, after Daly and Faurel coached Gauff to her second major singles title at the French Open in June.

Coco Gauff Inherits the EarthCoco Gauff Inherits the Earth

But tennis fortunes can change quickly: this is the second year in a row that a reigning French Open champion has dropped one of her coaches within months, after Iga Swiatek parted with Tomasz Wiktorowski in October last year.

Gauff’s struggles since her victory in Paris have been obvious. She lost both matches she played on grass, losing to Wang Xinyu in Berlin—a win that aged well when Wang made the final— and then losing to Dayana Yastremska in the first round of Wimbledon.

Gauff had a 4-2 singles record across the hard courts of Montreal and Cincinnati—and won the doubles in Montreal alongside McCartney Kessler—but her sporadic serving issues flared up again, hitting rafts of double faults. In her first match in Montreal, she hit double faults on 20.4 percent of service points; in her last match in Cincinnati, she hit double faults on 19.0 percent of service points.

Gauff slipped from No. 2 to No. 3 in the WTA rankings after Iga Swiatek won the title in Cincinnati.

There is reason for short-term optimism, however: Gauff has often found success quickly after making coaching changes. In 2023, Gauff hired Brad Gilbert and quickly won titles in Washington, Cincinnati, and the U.S. Open. When she began working late last year with Daly, a coach known best for his work on technique, she won titles in Beijing and the WTA Finals in Riyadh.

Gauff was on court today at the U.S. Open with Gavin MacMillan, the biomechanics specialist who helped Aryna Sabalenka get out of her own double fault morass. (More on him at Bounces soon, fittingly!)

Gavin MacMillan on court with Coco Gauff today at the U.S Open (Photo by Nick McCarvel)

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