"Big trust on both sides like, really, full trust. We were feeding each other in terms of motivation. I [knew] her perfectly, how to push her, motivate her, provoke her to be more competitive. We got started during a difficult period. She hadn't won a grand slam for two years and suffered a first-round loss in a slam for the first time in her career [to Virginie Razzano at the 2012 French Open]."
"When something like this happens, even the best competitors they start to think a bit differently and that hurts their quality when they compete. Roland Garros was the most difficult tournament for her, and at that point she had only won it once, in 2002. [At the start of] 2013, after we got her back to No 1 in the world, she told me, I really want to win it again. Can you make a plan for me?"
Patrick Mouratoglou was notably absent from this year's US Open. He rose to prominence after advising Marcos Baghdatis to the 2006 Australian Open final. His academy on the French Riviera attracts pros and prospects seeking elite coaching. The partnership with Serena Williams produced 10 of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles and cemented Mouratoglou's reputation. The partnership relied on full trust, mutual motivation, and precise psychological pushing during a difficult period after a 2012 first-round Grand Slam loss. Bold tactical choices included serving only second serves in Madrid to eliminate free points and force consistent work. Topics also include Naomi Osaka's resurgence, Williams's weight loss, and strategies to challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner's duopoly.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]