Gauff refreshed and 'excited' with new coaching setup in Beijing

BEIJING -- Coco Gauff has shored up her coaching team through the end of the season and into next year. The World No.6 announced the end of her partnership with Brad Gilbert after the US Open and has now added Matt Daly to coach alongside her longtime coach, Jean-Christophe ("JC") Faurel. 

Beijing: Scores | Order of Play | Draws

Daly, 45, played collegiate tennis at the University of Notre Dame and graduated in 2001. He recently coached Denis Shapovalov on the ATP Tour last season. Gauff started working with Daly a week before flying to Beijing for the China Open. 

"I'm really excited," Gauff told WTA Insider in Beijing. "I think this is probably what it will look like next year too. I'm super excited for a new change and hopefully to improve other parts of my game. 

"Working with Brad was really great and obviously we had a great partnership. I think it was just time to do a reset, a refresh, and add some things in my game that I felt like I need to do to have a better season next year."

The top priority for Gauff and her team is addressing her serve. Earlier this month, her US Open title defense ended in the fourth round to Emma Navarro. She struck 19 double faults in the loss.

"There are other parts of my game that I want to work on, too, but the focus right now is the serve," Gauff said. "When I serve well, I play pretty well. For me, that's the basis for my game."

Don't expect to see a brand-new service motion from Gauff this week. She describes the new changes as "subtle" but is already seeing a marked difference on the practice. Now comes the test of replicating those results in match conditions. 

"Already, the little bit we've done has made a drastic improvement to where I was three weeks ago," she said.

"At this point, there's not a crazy amount, like going through a whole technique change or resetting everything. It's just subtle things that, doing it for a week now, will help me."

A semifinalist in Beijing last year, Gauff is seeded No.4 this year and will face France's Clara Burel in her opening match later this week. The 20-year-old enters a busy Asian swing at No.6 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals. She is trying to lock down a spot at her third straight WTA Finals.

"I've never felt pressure to make the Finals except the first year when I was trying to make it," Gauff said. "This year, it would be great to qualify and experience an organized Finals, but I'm also not trying to put too much pressure because this is a new coaching setup and I'm adding things. This tournament, we started a pre-season early, in a way.

"So I'm not really thinking about it. If it happens, that's great. If not, I get an earlier vacation. It's a win-win. But everybody wants to make the final eight, so that would be cool."

Last year, Gauff arrived in Beijing exhausted from her gritty run to her first Grand Slam title in New York. This year, she has an extra bounce to her step.

"I did more things this time," Gauff said. "Last year, I was so tired so I didn't do anything. This time I adjusted so much faster and I actually did the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, which was really cool.

"I got to spend two weeks at home so I feel refreshed. Hoping to finish this season off strong."