15-year-old Gauff has been one of the major stories of Wimbledon so far after reaching the third round with wins over Venus Williams and Magdalena Rybarikova.
Current WTA rules allow young players to “play more and at a higher level by phasing them into professional tennis in accordance with their age, their ranking and the skills gained from Player Development”.
But Gauff’s breakthrough has led to some calls for the rules to be changed and youngers players being given more opportunities to play.
Federer’s Team8 agency represents Gauff and the pair have a close relationship.
And the Swiss star feels talents like Gauff should be allowed to play more than the 10 events she is currently able to compete in.
“I understand the rule completely that they want the young players not to play too much. I’ve told the WTA they should loosen up the rules,” he told reporters.
“I loved seeing [Martina] Hingis doing what she did at a young age. This is not me being involved in any shape or form as Team8 through Coco. I try to give her as much advice as I can through Team8.
“I think it would be nice, you know, if they could play more. I feel like it puts in some ways extra pressure on them every tournament they play. It’s like their week, this is now where I finally am allowed to play, I have to do well, right? I’m not sure if it’s maybe to some extent counterproductive.
“They could maybe do a mentoring system that there is maybe still a rule about how many tournaments they’re allowed to play, but maybe it should be more, in my opinion. Then the mentors should come in, the legends like Billie Jean or Chris Evert, Navratilova, others, maybe speak to the parents, the coaches, the player for that matter, and really, like, educate them so they don’t fizzle out.
“Maybe your best time, and your best time is from 14 to 20 for some reason. It’s not like for everybody else from 20 to 30. So in a way you take away that opportunity, you know. Some want to have kids maybe at 24. At least you had a strong career for 10 years, from 14 to 24. I don’t know.
“It’s up to debate. I don’t have the perfect solution. I see why they did it, because we’ve had the history of some tough parents out there. But at the same time you’re also increasing the pressure for that player each week to produce.”
Tracy Austin was a former teen star before going onto win the US Open twice.
And she also believes the rules should be adjusted to allow more young players to gain tournament experience.
“I would like to see it. They actually reviewed the age eligibility rule ten years ago,” she said on the BBC.
“And I would like to see it relaxed when you have special players like a Coco Gauff.
“Maybe minimise the tournaments so they can’t overplay too much, too soon.
“But I think it can be relaxed. She needs the experience and that’s why I think we haven’t seen so many young champions as of late because they aren’t able to gather that experience playing so many tournaments throughout the year.”