Maria Sharapova has advice for Coco Gauff after her tennis coach was fired

Maria Sharapova has some advice for Coco Gauffwho recently fired his tennis coach Brad Gilbert.

“I think Coco has an amazing head on her shoulders and knows that there will be changes in her team over the years,” Sharapova, 37, said exclusively Us weekly at the Stella Artois Let's Do Dinner Summer Series event in New York City on Thursday, September 19th.

“What you need at a certain point in your career is not what you need later in your career,” the retired tennis player continued. “I've been very lucky with the teams I've had. I still stay very close with all of my coaches. They are such big team members and carry so much weight. A team is really important.”

Sharapova added: “It takes time to build trust and learn from it [your team] and take their advice. But it’s a fun journey.”

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Gilbert, 63, announced via X on Wednesday, September 18, that he and Gauff, 20, had separated after an intense 2024 summer season. “Coco, at just 20 years old, your future looks incredibly bright and I wish you continued success,” Gilbert wrote. “I’m looking forward to the next chapter of my coaching career.”

Gilbert previously coached players like Andre Agassi, Andy Murray And Andy Roddickand began working with Gauff as an assistant coach in July 2023 Pere Riba. Under his guidance, Gauff became the second-best player of all time last summer. She won her first Grand Slam title in September 2023 and won three more titles in Washington DC, Cincinnati and the US Open in the summer.

However, the young tennis star experienced setbacks in the 2024 season after losing to his fellow American Emma Navarro at the last two Grand Slams and then failed to win a medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Sharapova knows all too well how to part ways with a coach. In 2008, after winning her third Grand Slam in Australia, the Russian tennis star asked her coach and father: Yuri Sharapovto step down from the role he held for almost her entire career.

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“At that point I had just won my third Grand Slam,” she said Us. “Maybe in a different situation or [for] Another player, this wouldn't be the time to quit with your coach or your dad, but I just wanted to fly alone. I wanted to figure things out. I was in my early 20s and I just felt ready, even though he was still an important part of my career.”

Despite her father's dismissal, Sharapova shared Us that she and Yuri remain “very close.”

“I am an only child and am very close to both of my parents,” she shared. “They were just wonderful influences in my life. We shared so much through my sport and my shared upbringing. We came to a new country at a young age and were therefore a small team. I’m grateful I had her by my side.”

Sharapova retired from tennis in February 2020.