Tennis is a brutal, lonely sport where you're basically stuck on an island, and sometimes the only thing you can change is the person sitting in your player box. That’s exactly what happened with Coco Gauff coach Matt Daly in a whirlwind partnership that felt like a fever dream. One minute they were hoisting the French Open trophy in Paris, and the next, he was out the door just days before the 2025 US Open.
It’s the kind of drama that keeps the tennis world spinning. You’ve got a world-class athlete who has already won two Grand Slams by the age of 21, yet she’s still wrestling with a serve that occasionally decides to take a vacation. Hiring Matt Daly was supposed to be the "fix." He was the technique guy. The "grip doctor." And for a while, it worked like a charm. But in professional sports, "for a while" is a very short lease.
Who is Coco Gauff Coach Matt Daly Anyway?
Most people hadn't heard much about Matt Daly before he linked up with Coco. Honestly, he wasn't a household name like Brad Gilbert or Rick Macci. Daly, a former college player at Notre Dame who reached a career-high ATP ranking of 941 in the early 2000s, had spent years in the trenches coaching high-level juniors and pros.
He was known in inner circles as a specialist in technical adjustments—specifically grip changes. When Coco parted ways with Brad Gilbert after the 2024 US Open, she didn't just want a cheerleader or a tactician. She wanted someone to get into the nuts and bolts of her mechanics.
Daly entered the picture in September 2024, joining forces with Jean-Christophe Faurel. The goal was simple but incredibly difficult: stabilize the serve and shore up that forehand. It's funny how fast things move. Within weeks, Coco won the China Open. Then she capped off 2024 by winning the WTA Finals in Riyadh. It looked like a masterstroke.
The Paris Peak and the Summer Slide
If you look at the timeline, the Coco Gauff coach Matt Daly era reached its absolute pinnacle in June 2025. Watching Coco dominate on the clay of Roland Garros was something else. She took down Aryna Sabalenka in the final to claim her second major title. At that moment, Daly looked like a genius. The grip changes and the "subtle" technical tweaks Gauff mentioned in interviews seemed to have finally clicked.
But tennis is fickle.
Almost immediately after that French Open high, the wheels started wobbling. A first-round exit at Wimbledon was a massive gut punch. Then came the North American hard-court swing, where the "double fault monster" returned with a vengeance.
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"When I serve well, I play pretty well," Coco told reporters.
The problem? She wasn't serving well. At the 2025 Canadian Open, she coughed up 42 double faults in just three matches. By the time she hit Cincinnati, she was leading the WTA in double faults by a mile—over 320 for the season. For a player with her speed and defensive skills, giving away that many free points is basically athletic suicide.
The Stats Don't Lie
- Total Double Faults (2025): 320+ (Leading the WTA)
- First Serve Percentage: Hovering around 60%
- The Breaking Point: 16 double faults in a single Cincinnati quarterfinal match.
Why the Split Happened So Fast
The breakup happened on Wednesday, August 20, 2025. It was a "sudden decision," as Coco put it. You've got to imagine the stress of heading into your home Grand Slam—the US Open—knowing your biggest weapon is actually a liability.
Daly is a grip expert, but the issues seemed to have migrated beyond just how she was holding the racket. The serve looked "shaky," as many analysts noted. When Gavin MacMillan—the biomechanics guru credited with fixing Aryna Sabalenka’s serve—became available, Coco didn't hesitate. She swapped Daly for MacMillan literally days before the tournament started.
It wasn't that Daly was a bad coach. He clearly wasn't. You don't win a French Open with a "bad" coach. But Coco is looking at the long-term. She realized that continuing to do the wrong things technically was just a waste of time. She needed a biomechanical overhaul, not just a grip tweak.
Daly, to his credit, was a total pro about the whole thing. He told Bounces that he had nothing but good things to say and enjoyed working with her. No drama, no Twitter rants. Just a business decision at the highest level of sport.
What Most People Get Wrong About This Pairing
People love to blame the coach. They say Daly "messed up" her serve or that hiring him was a mistake. That's kinda harsh.
The truth is that Gauff’s serve has been a work in progress since she was 15. It’s a complex motion with a lot of moving parts. Daly helped her win a Major. He helped her reach World No. 2. He provided a bridge between the "Winning Ugly" era of Brad Gilbert and whatever comes next.
Sometimes a coach is just the right person for a specific season. Daly was the technician she needed to transition her game after the 2024 slump. He did his job, but the ceiling was reached.
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Actionable Insights for Tennis Fans and Players
So, what can we actually learn from the whole Coco Gauff coach Matt Daly saga? It’s not just celebrity gossip; there are real takeaways here for anyone who follows the game or plays it.
- Don't be afraid to pivot. Coco saw her stats trending downward and realized the current path wasn't working. Even after winning a Grand Slam, she was willing to change. If your "grip" on a situation isn't working, change the grip.
- Biomechanics > Quick Fixes. Grip changes are great, but if the foundation (the toss, the leg drive, the shoulder rotation) is off, a new grip is just a band-aid. If you're struggling with a recurring injury or technical flaw, see a specialist who understands the physics of the movement.
- The "New Coach Bounce" is real. Players often perform well immediately after a change because of the fresh perspective and renewed focus. We saw it when Coco hired Daly, and we're likely to see it again with MacMillan.
- Short-term success isn't a long-term guarantee. Winning the French Open didn't mean the partnership was permanent. In any high-performance environment, you have to keep evolving or you'll get left behind.
Coco is still just 21. It’s wild to think about. She’s navigating the peak of professional sports under a microscope, making tough calls that most of us wouldn't have the guts to make. Whether Matt Daly was a "failure" or a "success" depends on how you look at it, but for a few months in 2024 and 2025, they were the most successful duo in women's tennis. That counts for something.
Keep an eye on the serve stats in the coming months. If the double faults drop, we’ll know she made the right call. If they don't? Well, there might be another coaching headline coming our way sooner than we think.
To stay updated on Coco's progress, monitor the official WTA live scoring and match insights during the hard-court season. Pay close attention to her second-serve win percentage and service motion fluidity in slow-motion replays, as these are the primary indicators of whether the biomechanical changes are taking root.