'Second family': Tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches

BEIJING, China – World No. 1 Iga Swiatek split from hers after three seasons. Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff were both at the China Open with new ones.

Three of the biggest names in women's tennis have in the past month jettisoned their coaches, casting a spotlight on the relationship between players and the people behind them.

Swiatek was the latest to announce a change when she said Friday she would no longer be working with Tomasz Wiktorowski after a hugely successful partnership.

The five-time Grand Slam champion did not detail the reasons for the split, but after winning the French Open in June her form has tailed off.

The 23-year-old Pole, who did not defend her China Open crown in Beijing because of "personal matters", is in the process of finding a replacement.

In the coaching merry-go-round, she has been linked with Wim Fissette — the Belgian who has been available since Osaka ended their working relationship last month.

Players usually wait until the end of the season to make such changes but Osaka and Gauff both arrived in the Chinese capital with new coaches.

It brought instant success to the 20-year-old Gauff when the American won the China Open on Sunday, having parted ways with Brad Gilbert and brought in the lesser-known Matt Daly.

Daly, who coached Canada's Denis Shapovalov in the past, will work alongside Gauff's longtime coach, Jean-Christophe Faurel.

Top players usually have a large backroom team that includes more than one coach, fitness gurus, physiotherapists, analysts and others.

Gauff said that she needed "a reset, a refresh", after her US Open defense ended in the last 16 in a blur of double-faults.

She called her performance in winning the Beijing final — in her first tournament with Daly — "by far my best match in a while".

"It was trying to find the mix of two people that work together well," said Gauff, who until Beijing had struggled to replicate her best form this year.

Asked by AFP in the Chinese capital what the biggest factor is in choosing a coach, Gauff said "it just depends at what point in your career you're at".

"Obviously right now I'm very young, so I'm looking just for someone to help me develop in the long term," she said.