When Coco Gauff won her first WTA 500 tournament in Washington, she gained immeasurable momentum, which also helped her win her first Masters and slam. But before the tournament, Gauff’s year was quite turbulent, and it was fixed by one of her former coaches, Pere Riba. However, noting her performance in Wimbledon, Riba did not feel that Gauff stood a chance at winning the US Open.

While Riba and Gauff worked well together, they are not a part of each other’s team anymore. Riba cited personal and family issues but stepped back into the coaching world not long after leaving Gauff, drawing a lot of flak from her fans.

Former coach Coco Gauff did not visualize US Open win

From the start of this year, Gauff has had a wonky trajectory in her career. She found it difficult to get into a good rhythm. When she would find one way to perform well, she would be shut down by another player. She changed coaches and put in great effort to overcome her bad form. She could not overcome it in Wimbledon but managed to bring about immense changes as the hard court season rolled around.

Speaking in ‘The Functional Tennis Podcast’, Riba said, “I promise that yes, yes. I, visualize that but I am not visualized that in this US Open, I wasn’t, I remember that. I was talking with with Cori. That and then we have many doubts in Wimbledon, you know, and when she lost in the first round was that moment and then the Cori and me were talking.”

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Riba helped Gauff overcome the issues that were plaguing her game, namely her troublesome forehand. While the two had a great run, they parted ways by the end of October when Riba cited personal issues. But when he stepped back into the coaching scene, Gauff fans flamed him for ditching the US Open champion. Riba recently opened up about the controversy.

Pere Riba opens up about coaching controversy

A month after announcing his departure from the Gauff’s team, Riba shared that he would be rejoining the squad of Qinwen Zheng. The news did not settle well with fans of Gauff, who accused Riba of ditching their favorite to join his previous team. After social media threw much flak on him, Riba finally decided to respond to the controversy.

Some claimed that the personal issues were made up, which he called false. In an interview, Riba said that he was going through personal and family issues, which were solved in a month. Not long after, Zheng contacted him, and the two struck a deal that would see Riba back as her primary coach.

The controversy of the situation has not died down at the moment, with fans of the American sensation still trying to break down what transpired between the two.  

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