Nearly 30 years ago, Andre Agassi and Brad Gilbert had a meeting of the minds in Florida, one that has been famously chronicled in Agassi’s autobiography, “Open."
What did Gilbert say that turned a conversation over beers into one of the most productive player-coach relationships in the last fifty years of American tennis?
"Stop thinking about yourself, and your own game, and remember that the guy on the other side of the net has weaknesses."
The above quote hits at the essence of what Gilbert, the author of the coaching bible entitled “Winning Ugly,” has always been about.
Fast-forward three decades and Gilbert, who won six major titles with Agassi and also guided Andy Roddick to his lone Grand Slam title in 2003, is back in the saddle with American wunderkind Coco Gauff, hoping to instill some of the wisdom that he has accrued over the course of his legendary career.
It has been a minute since Gilbert has been a member of the coaching ranks, but in 2023, after a long stretch in the commentating booth at ESPN, he found a reason to step back into the coaching ring.
"I had some offers, but I will say I was looking for the right player," Gilbert tells USOpen.org. "I definitely was thinking about coaching, but I was mostly thinking about the possibility of [coaching] a young American."
Enter Gauff, a promising, precocious player who was looking for a new set of eyes to assess her game. It's a perfect fit for Gilbert, who has always had a knack for taking raw talent and introducing extra layers of tactical nuance and clarity to make it bulletproof.
Gilbert got off to a quick start with Gauff and her team in late July as a consultant before the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. She won the tournament, and went on to claim her biggest career title two weeks later in Cincinnati.
Gauff is officially coached by Spaniard Pere Riba, an ambitious 35-year-old former ATP World No. 65 who is rising up the coaching ranks. Riba, Gilbert and the rest of the team have found instant chemistry.
"The most important thing is not about me or about Brad. The most important thing is that Coco believes in the work that we are doing, that she is improving," Riba says. "Of course Brad can bring us many things. I see it as really positive, and the connection with him is so good–we are working together really well."
Gauff is 13-1 since Gilbert joined team Coco after she raced past talented teen Mirra Andreeva to reach the third round on Wednesday in New York. She’s clearly not the same player that lost in the first round at Wimbledon this year while struggling to find her on-court identity.
“If you saw the way she has been carrying herself on the court, it’s very different–his influence is unmistakable,” remarks Hall of Fame tennis writer Steve Flink.
Flink points out that Gilbert’s beginning with Gauff strikes a chord similar to the first two months that the Northern California native spent as Roddick’s coach.
That pairing commenced in the summer of 2003; two months later Roddick had his first Grand Slam title and was on the way to finishing the season as the ATP’s No.1.
“That one was even more amazing in some respects, in terms of the success that came immediately, and for the whole summer,” Flink said, as he compared Roddick’s first summer with Gilbert at the helm to Gauff’s. “Her start reminds me so much of Andy’s start.”
Those that have worked with Gilbert before, are quick to endorse his coaching chops.
"He’s a master strategist,” Roddick recently explained of Gilbert’s coaching acumen.
Andy Murray, who worked with Gilbert in 2006 and 2007 and made his first foray into the Top 10 as a teenager during that time, remembers Gilbert as a master tactician.
“He loved discussing matchups, how to get to people's weaknesses,” he said of his former coach. “Just understanding how to win, really.
“It wasn't so much about the technical side of things or the physical side of things as much. It was very focused on the strategy and finding ways to win matches, which ultimately is the most important thing.”
Not surprisingly, Gilbert is off to a fast start with sixth-ranked Gauff.
“I just think about the fact that she has a lot of great assets in her game, and I think about how to improve what she does,” Gilbert says. “I also like to think a lot about strategy and some of the things that you can do to help players in the day-to-day.”
Gauff stresses that with Gilbert, it isn’t about the message—it’s about the messenger.
“Sometimes it's not always about the message,” she said. “I don't think the message has changed for me, it's more about how the message was relayed to me. I think hearing that from his perspective helps a lot.”
Gilbert, meanwhile, is thrilled to be reconnecting with his favorite pastime: scouting the competition and finding ways to exploit their weaknesses.
"I think for me, the thing that I missed most, by far, of anything—and you don't realize it until you are back in the mix—is the simple art of scouting," he said. "I feel like that is the strength in my coaching."
Gilbert also wants Gauff to embrace change and evolve her game. He stresses that if you aren't moving forward in the ultra competitive world of professional tennis, you're stepping back.
"Novak Djokovic is 36, and he's still evolving," he said. "If you watch him play, he's volleying now better than ever. He's serving bigger. Great players want to get better and if you don't think you can do better and work and improve your game, you don't get better and the people below you do."
It isn't yet clear how high Gilbert and Gauff can climb. But there's no denying that all signs point north. Riba feels it, Gauff feels it, and the fans that pack inside Arthur Ashe stadium to cheer for the charismatic 19-year-old feel it as well.
It's a win-win, and Coco keeps winning. What's not to like?
"I am a guy that is always trying to learn from everyone and trying to take the best things from all the coaches," coach Riba told USOpen.org. "Brad is a top coach, I'm just learning from him and all the time, I'm open.
"I'm so happy that he's there. When I see Coco happy, I'm happy."
