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Coco Gauff won the U.S. Open in 2023 at age 19. She won the French Open in 2025 at age 21. In between, and after, she has kept adjusting her team, adding coaches and specialists as her game has demanded it.
Gauff turned professional as a teenager and first made the world pay attention at Wimbledon in 2019, when she defeated Venus Williams at age 15 in the opening round. She has been one of the most popular, but also most scrutinized players on the WTA Tour ever since. Her current coaching setup reflects where her game is: Jean-Christophe Faurel, who has been with her since 2019, remains her primary coach, and biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan joined the team in August 2025 to fix her serve. Get to know both of them below.
Faurel has coached Gauff since she was a teenager.
Jean-Christophe Faurel (center) in Gauff’s box at the 2025 U.S. Open.CHARLY TRIBALLEAU – Getty Images
(CHARLY TRIBALLEAU – Getty Images)
Born in 1981 in Rueil-Malmaison, France, Jean-Christophe Faurel was a tennis player first himself. He turned professional in 2000 and retired in 2009, reaching a career-high singles ranking of No. 140 in 2006. His playing career included appearances in three Grand Slams in 2006: Faurel reached the second round of the Australian Open, lost in the first round at the French Open, and in the first round at Wimbledon. His best win on the ATP Tour came at the 2006 Open 13 in Marseille, where he defeated Feliciano López, then ranked No. 38 in the world.
Faurel began coaching Gauff in March 2019, working alongside her father. He was on her team just months before her breakthrough at Wimbledon that year.
Gauff hired MacMillan days before the 2025 U.S. Open.
Gauff and MacMillan.Tim Clayton – Getty Images
(Tim Clayton – Getty Images)
Gavin MacMillan is a biomechanics expert who works with athletes across multiple sports. He came to prominence in tennis in 2022, when he worked with Aryna Sabalenka to overhaul her serve during a stretch in which she was dealing with severe double-fault issues. Within six months of hiring MacMillan, Sabalenka won the first of her four Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and eventually rose to world No. 1.
Gauff brought MacMillan onto her team in August 2025, less than a week before the start of the U.S. Open, replacing coach Matt Daly, who had worked with her for nearly a year. Gauff had been struggling with her serve, hitting 23 double faults in one match in Montreal and 16 more in a quarterfinal loss in Cincinnati.
“It was, like, a very sudden decision,” Gauff told reporters at Flushing Meadows. “Gavin became available. I just felt this was the best decision for my game at least and I had to go with what I was feeling. Matt, I think Matt is a great coach and a great person and 100% love working with him. Yeah, I mean, we obviously had a very successful partnership, but I’m just looking at long term.”
Gauff and MacMillan on Court Philippe Chatrier in preparation for the 2026 French Open.Tim Clayton – Getty Images
(Tim Clayton – Getty Images)
MacMillan used video and data to alter how Gauff initiates her serve. According to the Associated Press, Gauff said she practiced so intensively that she was “literally serving until, like, my shoulder was hurting…I know that this is the part of my game that needs to improve if I want to get the results that I want to receive.”
ESPN analyst Darren Cahill spoke favorably of the hire. “A lot of things add up and this could be a really good relationship,” Cahill said last year. “He’s very thorough. I’ve spoken to him many, many times before and the fact that he’s got experience with different athletes from different sports, both male and female, he uses the new technology, he goes to the video a lot, really breaks down the biomechanics.”
Faurel observes Gauff during practice at the 2025 WTA Finals.NurPhoto – Getty Images
(NurPhoto – Getty Images)
Gauff dismissed the idea that the timing, days before a Grand Slam, was unusual. “I mean, a tournament is a tournament,” she said at the 2025 U.S. Open. “I hate losing regardless of where I am. If this was a 250, I would feel just as crazy to do it.”
She framed the decision as one about the long game. “Yeah, I won French Open, made two finals back to back, quarters of Australia. I can be, ‘Okay, I’m doing fine and continuing playing the way that I’m playing.’ But I know where I want to see my game in the future. I’m not going to waste time playing the way I don’t want to play.”
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