Andy Roddick lauds Coco Gauff's father: "There's been a negative history of fathers of women's players being psychopaths... Corey Gauff is rare"
Andy Roddick has expressed his admiration for Coco Gauff's father, Corey, applauding him for defying the negative history associated with female players being coached by their fathers.
Coco Gauff's coach, Brad Gilbert, sought assistance from his former protege, Roddick, to improve the World No. 3's serve ahead of her campaign at the Australian Open. Roddick obliged, spending a few days with the 19-year-old and her team, including her father, during which time he gained insight into the team's workings.
On the inaugural episode of the 'Served with Andy Roddick' podcast, Roddick discussed the prevalent negative trend of female players being coached by their fathers. He characterized some of these fathers as "psychopaths" and irresponsible, not just as coaches but as parents.
"Also, it’s been spoken about a little bit but it needs to be spoken about more. Especially in our sport where there has been a negative history of fathers of women tennis players being psychopaths and being irresponsible to the total human. Not the tennis but the total human," he said (at 49:56).
However, the former World No. 1 emphasized that Coco Gauff's father, Corey, stood out as a "rare" exception due to his ability to step back and allow his daughter's coaches to take charge of her training. Roddick distinguished him from the numerous "cautionary tales" associated with other fathers in women's tennis.
"Corey Gauff was here also and his ability to not be the center of attention, doesn’t need the information to come from him, that is rare and it sounds like something that should be very obvious and it’s not. In the history of our sport it is not," Roddick said.
"There are a lot of cautionary tales and I won’t name them out of respect for the people who are on the bad side of those cautionary tales but it has been rampant in our sport," he added.
Andy Roddick on Coco Gauff's father Corey's approach: "I hope this creates precedent for other tennis parents, especially of young females"
Andy Roddick also disclosed that, despite having in-depth knowledge about the statistical data related to his daughter's game, Coco Gauff's father, Corey, willingly took a back seat after the 19-year-old suffered a shock first round exit at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships.
"So to find someone who says, 'Listen, after Wimbledon it’s not about me.' He knows a lot. Like he knew data sets, he knew exactly what she [Coco Gauff] was holding, he knew if she could hold 6% more service games, what the AI projections were and what that meant for match wins," he said (at 50:44).
Roddick further praised Corey Gauff for allowing Brad Gilbert to assume the coaching responsibilities for the World No. 3, while also welcoming Roddick's advice to join the fray. The 41-year-old expressed optimism that Corey's approach would serve as a positive example for other tennis parents coaching female players.
"The guys has studied and he is dialled [in] and for him to kind of take a back seat and let Brad be Brad, which is a weird orbit in itself, and let me, who he doesn’t know have a say in her serve for a couple of days, like Bravo. It needs to be said over and over again. I hope this creates precedent for other tennis parents, especially of young females," he added.
Coco Gauff reached her maiden Australian Open semifinal at this year's edition of the event, where she lost to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets.