With Gauff, though, those peaks and valleys are more pronounced and extreme. After losing in the first round at Wimbledon in 2023, she hired Brad Gilbert and immediately won her first 500, her first 1000, and her first Grand Slam. By the end of the next summer, though, she was back in a slump, and her serve had deserted her. So she split with Gilbert and immediately started winning everything in sight to close out 2024.
By now, Coco is well aware of the pattern. When she was asked, in light of her 21st birthday, what he has learned on tour, she said this:
“Just accepting the highs and lows. I think sometimes in sports you want to just stay on the high and kind of ride that wave, but especially with this sport, a season as long as tennis, it’s kind of impossible to always be on that high wave, and there’s going to be some low moments I think. Just trying to stick through those tough moments and get better through them.”
