John McEnroe has torn into Coco Gauff – suggesting her “commercials” and brand deals could be affecting her tennis performance.
The former US Open champion was knocked out in the fourth round of the competition this year, showing clear signs of frustration as she made 19 double faults and a total of 60 unforced errors in the match against Emma Navarro. This followed a disappointing performance during the Paris Olympics this summer where she reached the third round before crashing out against Donna Vekic.
Now, McEnroe is calling for change. And the seven-time Grand Slam winner believes Gauff should first reassess her team.
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Before her impressive run last summer, she began working with Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert – a decision that proved beneficial for the 20-year-old American. However, Riba has since left the team, reports the Express.
“I don’t know about what is going on in her team, but I suspect there will be changes, that’s my guess,” McEnroe commented. “When she made the change last year and brought in Brad, it spurred her on and she had this great run in the hard court season.”
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He added: “Now it’s a year later and I don’t know what has happened. She is still having issues with her serve, she is still having issues with her forehand.”
The retired former world No. 1 also dismissed suggestions that Gauff could easily follow in Serena Williams’ footsteps. He explained: “She seems to be more outwardly frustrated on the court and venting more than I’ve seen before. I guess that’s just the pressure of expectations.
“People are just saying, ‘Oh, go and follow in the footsteps of Serena Williams.’ You are like, ‘Oh really, that will be easy.’ Give me a break.”
The legend weighed in on Gauff’s recent struggles, suggesting her off-court commitments such as lucrative endorsements could be impacting her performance. He said: “I’ve noticed she has been on a lot of commercials as well, so they’ve got to balance that with giving her time to work on her game and feel super confident again.”
Gauff stated how she is aware of the need to focus on her game following her US Open defeat to Emma Navarro, saying: “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 hadn’t had that since maybe before the clay season started.”
She added: Yeah, I think we’ll see how Asia goes, and we’ll see – obviously if I qualify [for the WTA Finals], I’ll play. I think for me in the long-term I definitely want to get a good training block, and I guess we’ll see how many tournaments I play for the rest of the year.”