From 10YO Prodigy to Star Muse, Coco Gauff Fuels Serena Williams’ Ex-Coach’s Most Personal Project

From being a legendary tennis coach who guided Serena Williams to clinching ten Grand Slam titles to becoming a motivational and inspirational guide to help readers achieve new success in life, Patrick Mouratoglou has seen plenty of tennis! This time, it’s emerged in the form of his recently released book, ‘Champion Mindset‘, Mouratoglou distills his lifetime of coaching excellence into ten commandments applicable to achieving success, which is not just confined to the walls of a tennis court.

He taught the readers how to embrace the “Progress Zone“, “Modify Your Inner Language,” and also how to “Take Responsibility for Results.” Having guided multiple superstars in the tennis world, he has observed a fundamental truth: “Champions have a different mindset. Champions think like champions.” Talking about champions, recently, the Frenchman thanked the 2023 US Open champion, Coco Gauff, for playing a part in his lifelong project. What was her role, though?

In July 2022, while talking about the right mindset to be successful in any field, Mouratoglou said, “Champions, they have the mindset and the mindset builds the tennis. So it’s all about the mindset. And this is true for everything. Whatever you do, if you have the right mindset, you are gonna make it. Some players that I know they are champions in their minds.” One among them is the 21-year-old American star, Coco Gauff. Mouratoglou has seen her rise from a ‘rising star‘ to a ‘superstar‘ pretty closely. In fact, he had first met her when she was just 10 years old.

Highlighting those moments with Gauff in an interview with CNN Sport in 2023, he said, “I felt that she was someone so driven, so much confidence in her ability and that wanted it so much that I felt she had the complete package to reach the top of the game. When she left the office, I told the guys: ‘This one, we take her with us and she can be great.’“

Coco Gauff hadn’t ventured outside of the US before traveling to the French Riviera to join the academy, where she made quite an impression on this renowned coach. He was highly impressed with the youngster’s fitness levels and her highly competitive nature. In fact, Mouratoglou and Gauff also worked together in an unofficial capacity before the 2023 French Open. Now, perhaps it’s time for a return gift for Gauff!

Patrick Mouratoglou recently shared a post on his IG account where he announced, “Hi everyone, a very special day for me. My book is out after two years of work. It’s going to be out in the English version today. So that’s why it’s a special day. It’s called ‘Champion Mindset‘ and wants to thank Coco Gauff and I cannot wait to share with you your opinion on this book on social media so we can talk about it.” Even in the captions, he shared a few words for Gauff saying, “It’s been an amazing journey supporting you as you’ve grown from a determined 10-year-old into the remarkable athlete and role model you are today. Your future is bright.“

Mouratoglou believes Gauff has been making history since she was a kid. How, in his same interview from 2023, he highlighted, “At 13 and a half years old she was in the finals of the US Open in juniors. At 14 she was winning Roland Garros in juniors.”

Talking about the same champion mentality that was instilled in her mind from a very young age, Gauff once said, “Defeat makes me want to work even harder.” Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Serena Williams’ ex-coach believes, “Americans say, ‘Sky’s the limit.’ I don’t see any limit, and I would not give her (Gauff) any limits.” He has time and again highlighted the ways of improvement for Gauff. With the 2025 French Open knocking at the door, let’s check out what she said about her game last year.

Has Coco Gauff improved the “real technical problem” that Patrick Mouratoglou highlighted last year?

Coco Gauff had a mix of ups and downs this year when it comes to her performances. Although she managed to help Team USA win the United Cup this year, and then it was followed by a QF appearance at the AO, she struggled a bit after that. However, in Madrid, she came back strongly, reaching the final where she was defeated by the world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, by 3-6,6(3)-7. Now, after that near miss, Gauff has yet again looked quite impressive at the Italian Open. She took down Emma Raducanu in the R16 in straight sets, and there have been several reactions coming in surrounding her impressive performances on clay so far.

Last year, after seeing her defeat to Iga Swiatek in the SF of the French Open, Patrick Mouratoglou pointed out a real problem in her game, saying, “I would have liked not to tell you about Cori Gauff’s forehand, but there is a real technical problem.” Seeing her getting thrashed by Swiatek by 2-6,4-6, he also claimed, “I think there are three reasons why the match didn’t give the fight we would have liked. First, I didn’t see a real game plan from Coco, I found that she was typing everything in all directions and that it wasn’t really constructed. We didn’t really know what meaning she wanted to give to her match. Then, there was this weakness on the forehand side which was exploited very well by Swiatek.“ So her forehand was one of the real issues that he highlighted last year.

This year, American tennis legend Andy Roddick has come up with an interesting observation about Coco Gauff’s game. He said, “It used to be where she would play a defensive forehand or almost commit before the match, where you are seeing the high looping ones or make hay and flatten it out Jim Courier style. Now it feels like the Andy Murray mold, where she is opening up the shoulders and going to the forehand, then she is opening up the shoulders and going up the line. But she is setting the table.“

Roddick also said, “She is establishing that one to the right side of her opponent’s body early and then that opens up the other options. Also, once she opens up that one down the line, that traffic is going back to her backhand. And I feel like she is in total control of her game, maybe for the first time since she won the US Open.” 

Have you noticed these changes in her game? Do you think it’s working in her favor on the clay courts his season? Share your thoughts in the comment box.