Serena Williams’ former coach, Rennae Stubbs, has always been a huge admirer of Coco Gauff. Just before the start of this season, when Gauff shared a few glimpses of putting in the hard yards in her training sessions for her preparation for the 2025 season, Stubbs predicted her to be “one of the favorites for the Australian Open.“

However, Gauff surprisingly went down to Paula Badosa in the land down under, and then after that, she had a horrid outing at the Middle East Swing and also at the ‘Sunshine Doubles‘. But she has now made a strong comeback on clay! After making it to the QF in Stuttgart, Gauff has now also secured her place in the last eight of the Madrid Open. Seeing her impressive performances on clay, Stubbs yet again shared a few kind words for the 21-year-old. What did she say?

Earlier in March, Stubbs was heard saying, “I adore Coco Gauff, I think she’s the nicest kid. She is so personable when you see her. I hate talking about her critically because I think she’s just such a special person. But it is my job to also try and teach people why she doesn’t have the success that they think she should.”

She has time and again pointed out Gauff’s flaws regarding her serves and weaker forehands, and explained ways to improve all of those. Recently, in ‘The Rennae Stubbs Podcast’, the Aussie legend highlighted her improvement in shot-making in her match against Belinda Bencic in the R16 of the Madrid Open.

“So, you know, and look, a lot of people probably don’t like the fact that I’m not hard on her, but I’m always sort of pointing out when things go badly. And the only reason for that is because I want her to win so badly, I want her to do well every week because I think she’s so good for the game, her positivity, and women’s tennis is great. And so it’s always really hard to watch her sort of lose, but not lose in the way that, you know, she lost certain matches in the past where it’s been a great, terrific match and, you know, someone’s just been a little bit better on certain aspects, but sort of the things that fall apart, the double faults and the forehands sort of really plague her in the last couple of matches that she’s lost,” said Stubbs.

She further added, “So I just want her to get through a tournament, whether it’s winning or losing the tournament, just having the weaker side of her game, sort of stand up a little bit and have someone just beat her outright, just being a little bit better, which is a rarity because when she’s hitting the forehand in and she’s moving the way she was, like, for example, today, she looked great today. I mean, she wasn’t making any errors. Bencic had no, like Bencic relies on you making errors because she sort of like takes the ball so early and redirects the ball so beautifully and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes herself, but doesn’t have a lot of power.“

According to her, when someone is playing against Coco Gauff, one has to hit a lot of winners, and it’d be a bit difficult for any player to get the better of the American unless she presses her to maximum limits. Gauff defeated Bencic by 6-4,6-2 in this match, and now, it’ll be interesting to see if she can hold on to this winning momentum or not. (Gauff has dropped only one set so far in her three matches here.)

Seeing Stubbs’ constant praise of Gauff, one may wonder does she ever fancies her chances of coaching this youngster? Well, in September 2024, she was asked a similar question and her reply to this was, “Of course, I would do it. I mean I wouldn’t say no to an opportunity with a great player, there’s no way…I think she’s an incredibly hard worker, I respect the heck out of her. She has only ever been an amazing person to be around.” 

Talking about showing respect, well, Gauff has a lot of respect for her next opponent, Mirra Andreeva. Here’s a closer look at the rivalry of two of the youngest players in the Top 30…

Mirra Andreeva seeks more than just “revenge” against Coco Gauff at the Spanish capital

Coco Gauff has faced Mirra Andreeva twice in her career so far, and interestingly, both of their previous meetings were in 2023 (the French Open and the US Open). Gauff was victorious on both occasions. However, last year, while speaking about this 18-year-old Russian, Gauff said, “I played her twice, both in Grand Slams. The first time was on clay & that was a tough three-setter. The 2nd time was at the US Open this past year. I think she’s an incredible player. I think she’s going to have a great future ahead of her.” She also added, “I don’t know her personally that well. I practiced with her once. But from what I’ve gotten, she’s a really nice & really sweet girl.” 

What did Mirra Andreeva have to say before this epic duel? “Last time I faced her on clay was Roland Garros 2023. The first set was tight, but the rest of the match was like ehhh. She didn’t give me a chance. But it was two years ago, so I’m just super excited to not take revenge but to see how different I play. I think it’s going to be an entertaining match.”

She also added that this year, she is going to try to advance further and do everything possible to win this match. Who do you think has the edge in this thrilling contest in Madrid?