Coach Rick Macci loves what he is seeing from Cori Gauff this week in Washington as Serena Williams’ childhood coach believes the American could potentially win the US Open if she plays her game at Flushing Meadows. In her first summer hard-court tournament of the year, Gauff made the Washington semifinal. Macci seemingly enjoyed very much Gauff’s 6-1 6-2 Washington win over former world No 4 Belinda Bencic and gave his take.
“@CocoGauff at age 19 has supersonic make up speed a wicked slice serve a laser down line backhand with juice nice soft crispy volleys a feathery drop shot and most of all a quickly maturing mind and if she can stay authoritative on the forehand she has enough to win the US OPEN,” Macci wrote on X.
@CocoGauff at age 19 has supersonic make up speed a wicked slice serve a laser down line backhand with juice nice soft crispy volleys a feathery drop shot and most of all a quickly maturing mind and if she can stay authoritative on the forehand she has enough to win the U OPEN.
— Rick Macci (@RickMacci) August 5, 2023
Gauff working with a Grand Slam-winning coach
In Washington, Gauff was seen on the practice court with Brad Gilbert – the man who famously guided Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to Grand Slam titles.
“Yeah, we started this week. Yeah, we have just started this week, and right now we, you know, have plans just for the week. I mean, obviously how things go, we may expand in future tournaments. Working with him has been great. I really didn’t know him that well other than the commentating, just a little bit seeing his past coaching performances, but those were before I was born (smiling). Yeah, he’s a very funny man. I was a little bit worried, because he is older, that I thought the generational thing, I didn’t want to be with someone who’s a wall. But he’s definitely not a wall. He’s making us laugh on court constantly. I think he just makes the game fun and makes it simple. So I’m hoping if everything goes good we probably will continue after this,” Gauff said in Washington.
Also, Gauff highlighted that for now, Gilbert is more of “a consultant” than a coach. But Gauff also noted that her first impressions of Gilbert were nothing but positive.