Coco Gauff’s coach doesn’t think that Rafael Nadal will ever again rediscover his best game but suggests that it is probably not the most important thing at this stage because the 38-year-old Spaniard just wants to stay healthy and “go out on his own terms.”

Even after Nadal basically missed the entire 2023 season due to a hip injury, his 2024 comeback started with him picking up an injury in his first tournament of the year in Brisbane. That led to Nadal not playing again until mid-April.

Since resuming action, Nadal has managed to stay healthy but has had mostly early exits and hasn’t been looking like a legitimate contender for titles.

But even though Nadal suffered his first-ever first-round defeat at Roland Garros, at least he was able to compete there and now he is also set to get to play his last Olympics in Paris.

Gilbert, who also worked with Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick in the past, was asked if he believes Nadal could get back to his top level.

“You know, he’s probably never going to reach his best level again, but I think more than anything, all athletes want to be able to go out on their own terms. They want to be and decide that you know what maybe it’s time for me to stop so he’s had so much you know you know injuries over the last two years that he probably hasn’t had a period where he’s really felt healthy and so that’s what he wants to know more than anything, before he stops what his game is like when he’s fully healthy,” Gilbert told CLAY.

Gilbert applauds Novak Djokovic

After struggling early in the year, Djokovic’s year got even rougher after he tore his knee meniscus at the French Open and had to have surgery to repair it on June 5th.

Initially, there wasn’t much expectation that Djokovic would be able to compete at Wimbledon, let alone win the tournament. But then 25 days after his surgery, the 37-year-old Serb kicked off his campaign at The Championships.

Although Djokovic struggled early on and wasn’t playing his best, he still managed to find ways to win and ultimately reach the final. But in the final, he didn’t have enough to beat Carlos Alcaraz as the Spaniard routinely won 6-2 6-2 7-6 (4).

Considering the circumstances, it was a great run for Djokovic simply because it was a huge thing that he just managed to compete. But after he was ousted in the final, some returned to claims that have followed Djokovic throughout the year – that he is done and that the likes of Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are now the ones to beat.

Asked about Djokovic’s level at the moment, Gilbert only spoke words of praise.

“I’d just focus on his tennis. His tennis is amazing, considering he’s only about five weeks removed from surgery. And I saw him in the whole practice week getting a little bit better every day. You know, hardly any of the players could be in this position with the quick turnaround of surgery. So that’s the most amazing part,” Gilbert said.

Djokovic on one of the key traits of the Big Three

Gilbert, who has been around tennis for a very long time and everyone got to know him extremely well during his eight-year partnership with Agassi, has often spoken about the importance of knowing how to “win ugly.” And that means finding a way to win even on the days when something is off or simply not working.

Asked if Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer have ever won ugly, coach Gilbert said there have been times when they delivered an average performance for their standards but that their average is in most cases better than whatever the opponent has.

“Their games look beautiful, but they would all tell you that probably the most important type of matches to win is early in the tournament, maybe when things weren’t right that day and they found a way to win and then tomorrow they could look beautiful,” Gilbert explained.

“That’s the subtle thing of being great: there is probably a huge percentage of matches where you are average but their average is better than everyone else’s. But you still have to figure out how to be successful on those days when you don’t feel a hundred percent physically or mentally. You need an ugly day to become beautiful a hundred percent.”

Meanwhile, Gilbert started working with Gauff after last year’s Wimbledon and they have had a very successful partnership so far as the 2023 US Open champion lifted her first Grand Slam title just two months after hiring Gilbert.