“I definitely do feel like I’m in a rebuilding period,” Gauff says.
“I feel like I have the foundation in my game,” she continued, extending the metaphor. “Now it’s building around that, it’s building the house…I have the land and I need to build the house on top of it, make it as extravagant and big and pretty as possible.”
What, ideally, will that house look like?
Gauff says she’s hoping Gilbert, former coach of Andre Agassi, among others, can help her perform better on bigger stages. So far this year, she has just one Top 10 win, and she lost in the fourth round and the quarters in Melbourne and Paris.
“I think having someone with a little bit more experience will help me for the pressure moments, the semifinals, finals, quarterfinals,” she said. “Those moments that I still think I need to get better at.”
She also says she wants to be a little less of a perfectionist, and a little less hard on herself when she isn’t perfect. Choosing the right shot, even if you miss it, is what matters.