Coco Gauff left Wimbledon after a first-round exit with a misfiring forehand and a need for some soul-searching.

Now? The young American will storm into the U.S. Open as one of the hottest stars in tennis.

A new team, new temperament and better play on the court has made her one of the favorites at Flushing Meadows beginning Monday.

Despite a tough draw, Gauff’s brilliant form over the past month makes her the leader of almost two dozen American women in the main draw and the biggest threat to the WTA’s Big 3.

The teen already beat World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, and her newfound confidence gives her a shot to unseat the defending champ.

Gauff hasn’t so much changed her game as much as become more of a gamer.

“Just confidence and trusting myself,” Gauff said. “I trust the work I’ve done in practice. I hope I can continue to translate that into matches. Just trusting myself. Obviously have the new team around me. Seeing a different perspective can just change things completely. I have a new perspective and I’m enjoying it a lot.”

Clearly.

During grass season, she hired a new coach, Pere Riba, and earlier this month, she brought on consultant Brad Gilbert, who guided Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick.

The result has been an 11-1 hardcourt season, with two titles, since Wimbledon.

Still just 19, Gauff broke through with her first WTA 500 title in Washington, then got her first victory over Swiatek en route to her first WTA 1000 crown in Cincinnati. Could her first Grand Slam title be next?

“I’m going in with a lot more confidence. I feel like no matter the scoreline in the match, I can be able to problem solve and troubleshoot my way out,” Gauff said. “I know I can win matches not playing my best game now. I wasn’t playing my best in every single match in D.C. and Cincinnati. It’s impossible. I do feel I’m much more confident in my B or C game.”

If the tournament goes according to chalk, Gauff would face Swiatek in the quarterfinals. Despite being seeded sixth, she has the third-best odds, behind just Aryna Sabalenka and Swiatek, the defending champ.

“Obviously she’s developing. She’s a hard worker. For sure, yeah, you saw the progress,” Swiatek said. “Mentally she has shown that she can win these tournaments.”

Buffalo native Jessica Pegula is the highest seed of any American man or woman, at third.

Having won the Canadian Open earlier this month, she’s looking for a breakthrough to finally get past the quarterfinals in Flushing Meadows. Still, even she sees Gauff as the future of the game.

“That Wimbledon loss seemed to really drive her to want to improve and get better. She came out of that really hungry, which is great to see from somebody that already has a lot of success at such a young age,” Pegula said. “When any player is confident that’s when they’re toughest to beat. She loves playing with a crowd. She’s definitely a favorite for this. … She’s the future of the sport, so it’s nice to see.”

It has been 20 years since an American man won the U.S. Open, but Frances Tiafoe is back after his electrifying run to the semifinals last year in what he calls the best of the Slams.

“Because you can’t beat the rowdy fans here. Everyone past 3 p.m. is drunk as hell, just having an unbelievable time,” Tiafoe said. “The ref has no shot at controlling that atmosphere. Just let it go and let it do what it does. Yeah, it’s arguably one of the best sporting events in the world.”

Tiafoe beat Rafael Nadal and Andrey Rublev last year before he pushed eventual champ Carlos Alcaraz to a fifth set in the semis.

After titles in Houston and Stuttgart this summer, Tiafoe has cracked the ATP Top 10 for the first time, seeded 10th, one spot behind fellow American Taylor Fritz.

As a member of the WTA players’ council, Pegula had strong views on the potential move of the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia.

“If you look at a pros and cons list, we’d obviously have to see there be a lot of pros overweighing the cons to feel comfortable going there, whether that’s seeing them have to donate money to women’s sports or women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, to see some change or action going towards helping those causes in their country,” Pegula said. “That’d be something really important … we’d want to see.”