"Brad Gilbert was stressing Coco Gauff"; "Parted ways and came out winning" - Fans react to American winning China Open after hiring new coach

Coco Gauff won her first WTA 1000 title of the season on Sunday as she defeated Karolina Muchova in straight sets to win the 2024 China Open. This victory came weeks after parting ways with her coach, Brad Gilbert, with fans taking note of this timing and claiming her game seemed to thrive after the split.

Gauff won the US Open last year with Gilbert and there was optimism in the camp for better things to come. 2024 started on the right note for the American as she won the Auckland Open but it was downhill since then.

Gauff struggled to reach a final throughout the year, and her US Open defense ended in the fourth round, dropping her ranking to World No. 6. Following this result, she decided to part ways with coach Gilbert.

Shortly after, Gauff entered the WTA 1000 event in Beijing under the guidance of her new coach, Matt Daly, as she aimed to regain her form in the latter part of the season.

She got the better of Clara Burel, 26th seed Katie Boulter, Naomi Osaka, qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva, 15th seed Paula Badosa, and Karolína Muchová to win her second career WTA 1000 title.

Many fans on X highlighted that Coco Gauff's triumph came right after her split with coach Brad Gilbert.

"Brad was stressing coco with all that that thinking! Let Coco play! That’s when she’s at her best! WTG COCO!" one fan wrote.

"Watching the highlights from coco and karolina…. wait just realized coco won a title as soon as she broke up with brad," another fan wrote.

"Also Coco Gauff proving that parting ways with Brad Gilbert was the right move?" another fan asked.

Here are some more fan reactions to Gauff winning a title in her first tournament after splitting with Gilbert.

"My thoughts when it comes to her leaving BG, BG was great as a consultant but he fell short when it came to improving Coco's technical aspects of her game, she misses Pierre Riba but I think she felt pressured to keep BG because of last summer. However her play stagnated a bit," one fan opined.

"YASSSS! Coco Gauff wins the China Open. Parted ways with her coach and came out winning," another fan wrote.

"If I had a pound for every time Coco Gauff immediately won a big title after hiring a new coach and coming through a year of poor results I’d have two pounds, which isn’t a lot but weird it happened twice (in a row)," yet another fan wrote.

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"We're working on a lot of developmental things, he's great" - Coco Gauff on new coach after split with Brad Gilbert

Coco Gauff at the 2024 China Open (Image: Getty)

After her 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Paula Badosa in the semifinal of the 2024 China Open, Coco Gauff opened up about her new coach during a press conference, explaining how they trained for a week and had to travel to China immediately. However, she was happy with how things were going. She said (as quoted by Express):

“We're working on a lot of developmental things. He's great. Obviously I still have JC [Jean-Christophe Faurel] on the team," Gauff said.

"For me, it was trying to find the mix of two people that work together well. So far, I mean, it's obviously working result-wise. Just even behind the scenes and everything you guys don't see, I think it's great."

Gauff expressed satisfaction with her decision, saying that she would have been content with her choice even if she had lost in the first round or lost the final.

Fortunately for Gauff, neither of those outcomes happened, as she went on to secure the title. Next on her schedule is the Wuhan Open, where she'll aim to continue her momentum as the newly ranked World No. 4.