Get to know Coco Gauff’s tennis coach!
The reining US Open champ is teaming up with Brad Gilbert as she prepares for the 2024 French Open, her next big tournament which kicks off on May 26 in France.
Joining Gauff’s team with decades of experience, Gilbert — a former tennis pro who doubles as a tennis commentator and analyst for ESPN — has worked with the history-making athlete since July 2023. A few months later, he became her head coach.
Gilbert spoke with PEOPLE in April about Gauff’s mindset ahead of the French Open, noting that she was “focused on the moment” despite the prestigious European event being only six weeks away at the time. That meant her sights were strictly set on her matches in Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome.
While training to clinch victories is serious business, Gilbert’s sure to bring the fun. Gauff admitted to being “worried” at first about their age gap prior to meeting, but said at a press conference she’s come to learn that Gilbert “still has the mind of a 20-year-old.” She joked, “Maybe even younger, a 10-year-old kid sometimes.”
Gauff went on to rattle off some of the “quirky” coaching techniques Gilbert brings to the game. “He played pretty much every match with a Jolly Rancher in his mouth,” she revealed.
“He’s been giving me Jolly Ranchers all the time. I take them but I don’t eat them… I can’t have Jolly Ranchers every five minutes.”
The “quirks” have clearly worked as Gilbert has solidified himself as an esteemed tennis coach during his 40-plus career, working with some of the biggest names in the game like Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick.
Brad Gilbert played tennis professionally between 1982 and 1995, winning 20 singles titles and achieving a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 in 1990. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 18 in 1996.
Gilbert is also an Olympian, earning a bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. “The whole experience was amazing – it was a surreal experience,” he reflected in a 2021 International Tennis Federation essay.
“It was something I’ll never forget. It may be my most enjoyable 17 days of my career. It was only topped by Andre [Agassi]’s experience of winning the gold in ’96 because it was my biggest regret as a tennis player,” he wrote.
Gilbert began working with Gauff in July 2023, joining her team as a consultant. That November, he took over as her main coach two months after she won the US Open for her first Grand Slam title.
“Coco is a special talent,” he told CNBC just days after Gauff’s big win. “She has incredible ability, she has great resilience.
Working with tennis greats is nothing new for Gilbert, who’s trained top players like Andrea Agassi and Andy Roddick. Under his tutelage, Agassi won six of his eight Grand Slam titles and Roddick secured his 2003 US Open victory.
Not only has Gilbert worked with big athletes, but he’s also trained some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Most recently, Gilbert trained Zendaya for her tennis-playing role in Challengers.
“They gave me the script, I read the script and told them, ‘Interesting’. The way it was written, there were no point constructions on any of the points,” Gilbert told ATPTour.com of how he was tapped for the job.
“I told them that I could create shot sheets and do all the things to help them create these points, which led to me and Kim [Gilbert] being hired as the consultants.”
In addition to Zendaya, Gilbert trained her costars Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor. He compared the prep time to “getting ready for the Aussie Open” because the period they had to get into shape was so short.
“You’ve got weeks to get ready, and really put in the yards,” Gilbert explained. “They have this [time] to become the role that they are. You’ve got a short period of time, then you’ve got to maximize your time.”
Gilbert was training Gauff at the same time as the Challengers cast, a job he said helped him ready the tennis pro. “In some way, I told Z this last night, somehow she prepared me for Coco. That’s my seven degrees of separation,” he told PEOPLE in April 2024. “Art imitates life,” Gilbert said.
With his tennis experience, Gilbert doesn’t only put his extensive knowledge of the game towards coaching. He also works as a commentator and analyst for ESPN, covering the network’s vast schedule of tennis programming including the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
Gilbert joined ESPN in 2004. He left briefly to coach then-rising star Andy Murray of Scotland in 2006 before returning to ESPN in 2008.
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