Rennae Stubbs has set the record straight regarding comments made about Coco Gauff in front of her coach Brad Gilbert.
The multiple-time doubles Grand Slam champion appeared on ESPN analysing where she feels the 20-year-old is going wrong following a fourth round defeat to Emma Navarro at the US Open.
But Stubbs’ criticism of Gauff was made slightly awkward given Gilbert, her coach was in front of her.
The 63-year-old began coaching Coco Gauff in the summer of August 2023 and while things started brightly, the last two months have been very challenging for the player and her team.
What did Rennae Stubbs say about her criticism of Coco Gauff in front of her coach Brad Gilbert?
Following Gauff’s 3-6, 6-4, 3-6 defeat at Flushing Meadows, Rennae Stubbs cited the World number six’s lack of confidence and technical issues on serve for her struggles over the summer.
“So under pressure, bad technique breaks down and her technique is… hard for me to say because Brad [Gilbert] is sitting here… but her technique, the elbow, is too low, the grip is a little weird as well,” Stubbs said. “So it’s hard for her to get that nice first serve and then the same or similar second serve.”
During the latest episode of the self-titled Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, the 53-year-old elaborated on her comments, stating that these situations are just part of the job and there is no bad blood between her and Gilbert.
“It’s great, we can hear from the coach of the player, yeah, it’s sort of great, but also a little bit awkward for people that are working there,” Stubbs said.
“But look, the bottom line is, it’s like, in that situation, my job is to also tell people at home why she’s losing and why she lost that match. That’s my job and you know, Brad’s a professional. He understands, he’s not going to be — he doesn’t hold it against me.
“This is… it’s part of the job and if you know, if [Jannik Sinner] loses, I’m sure if Brad was on the desk with [Sinner’s coach] Darren [Cahill] and he did 19 double faults, he’d probably say ‘Bro you gotta get your player to not hit double 19 double faults’, and this is what I see that could improve.”
Coco Gauff wants to spend more time on the practice court between now and the end of the season
Gauff perhaps needs a break from the game after suffering a series of surprising losses throughout the summer.
In the leadup to the US Open she mentioned not having an adequate amount of training time during the most hectic summer of her career so far.
This was something she mentioned yet again after exiting the US Open and Gauff wants to spend ample time fixing some issues on the practice court during the final portion of the season.
“I don’t know what my schedule will look like at the end of this year. I feel like I want to spend a good training block. I haven’t had that since maybe before the clay season started,” she told reporters.
“We will see how Asia goes. If I qualify [for finals] I will play, but for me, in the long term I want to get a good training block in and I guess we will see how many tournaments I then play for the year.”
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