21 February 2020

Coco Gauff's father Corey named Coach of the Year after daughter's phenomenal rise

Corey Gauff, father and coach of Coco, has been awarded the Professional Tennis Registry's Touring Coach of the Year award after coaching his 15-year-old daughter to a remarkable year.

Coco burst onto the scene at Wimbledon in 2019, beating her idol Venus Williams in the first round, eventually falling to overall champion Simona Halep in the final 16.

This time last year, she was number 579 in the WTA rankings and had barely scratched the surface of the pro tour, having only played in six professional tournaments.

Since then, she has rocketed up the rankings and now sits at World No 51. 

In 2020 the young star has already clocked up a run to the second week of a grand slam when she reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, toppling defending champion Naomi Osaka along the way.

Corey has been her coach and mentor along the way, most notably when he imparted words of wisdom to his young daughter in the third set of the final in Linz against Jelena Ostapenko.

Two championship points had come and gone and it looked like the 2017 Roland Garros champion was making a comeback against the youngster but 'dad' was on hand and provided some much needed advice.

"He gave me the best advice," Coco said afterwards. "I guess he didn't really tell me how to play - just to stay calm and stay focused - even though I wanted him to tell me how to play, he didn't need to tell me what side, what spot to hit to because I was already up 5-2 in the third set. 

"After the match, he told me that he knew that I already knew what I needed to do to win, but he was just trying to calm me down. I think he could tell that I was a little bit anxious, because it was close to the end of the match. He calmed me down, and it worked."

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