Coco Gauff and her coach Pere Riba have announced they’re parting ways. She and Riba had been working together for the past five months, with the partnership resulting in Gauff’s first Grand Slam win.
Gauff made the announcement after winning her first match at the WTA Finals in Cancun, where she beat Ons Jabeur. Riba wasn’t a part of her coaching staff while in Mexico, prompting many to speculate. “It was not my decision. We were great together and I wish him the best in the future. I would have loved for him to be here, but that’s the way things are,” said Gauff. “Pere is a great guy who helped me both on a personal and tennis level. I’m sure he will be successful whoever he is with.”
Riba revealed he concluded the partnership due to family commitments. In a statement with Marca, he said he wouldn’t be able to travel so much in the future “for family issues of a personal nature. I am very happy with the work we have done together, because all the objectives were met, and I am convinced that next year Gauff will be number one.”
Coco Gauff remains in top form
Gauff recently acquired her 50th win, a milestone that hadn’t been achieved by a teenager since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009.“Ons [Jabeur] is a great player, so I felt really unsteady the whole match even though it didn’t look like that,” she said following her WTA Finals win. “But I’m just happy to finally get a win here in this event.”
Jabeur had plenty of praise for Gauff following the end of their match. “She played really well,” she said. “She played a correct match, didn’t make a lot of mistakes. On my part, I did make a lot of mistakes.” Gauff will face Iga Świątek in her next group match.