Serena Williams coach wants men's tour to permit on-court coaching

Patrick Mouratoglou, the coach of Serena Williams, wants the men’s tour to follow the example of the women’s game by permitting on-court coaching.

Although on-court coaching is not allowed at Grand Slam tournaments – as Williams discovered to her cost in her run-in with the umpire in last year’s US Open final – players can call their coaches on to the court during matches on the Women’s Tennis Association tour. However, on-court coaching is not allowed by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which runs the men’s tour.

Mouratoglou, talking here at the Australian Open, believes that coaches already defy the on-court coaching rules at all levels of the game by conveying instructions from the sidelines and thinks that allowing coaches on to the court would improve tennis as a televised sport.

“I think that the ATP should do the same [as the WTA],” Mouratoglou said. “Everybody coaches [on court] already. It’s a fact that everyone knows – all the coaches, all the players and all the press. It’s completely tolerated, except for one or two people who think they’re different.

“It’s definitely tolerated on tour, so I think it should become legal: firstly because it would stop this hypocrisy and secondly because it’s great for the show. We need to attract a younger generation of viewers. Tennis is not attracting young people.

“I also think it’s good for the players. As Rafa [Nadal] said in the press: ‘We pay coaches all year long to help us and when we need them the most we don’t have them.’ That’s my opinion.”

Although on-court coaching is allowed on the WTA tour, Williams, who will be playing here for the first time since her controversial US Open final four months ago, never takes advantage of the rule.

“People say it’s because Serena doesn’t want on-court coaching, but that’s not true,” Mouratoglou said. “We decided not to do it for several reasons. I think that her number one quality is to be the best competitor ever and I don’t want her to think that she suddenly needs someone to be a better competitor. That would make her weaker, so for me it doesn’t make sense.”

He added: “I don’t think it’s the right move for her. I wish I could do it because it would show my support for on-court coaching, but my number one job is to help her be the best that she can be and I don’t think that’s going to help her.”

Does Mouratoglou think that on-court coaching will inevitably be adopted throughout tennis? “Nothing is inevitable – and especially in tennis,” he said. “This is a very conservative sport. When there’s any kind of progress people always say: ‘We’re losing something.’ That’s why it’s so difficult to make progress.

“When we finally take decisions they are too big and they’re wrong, so it’s better to make small steps of progress on a regular basis. We live in a different era today to the 1980s, when tennis was so popular.

“The sport has changed for many reasons, particularly TV, and tennis has to adapt. If tennis doesn’t adapt, it’s like the player who doesn’t want to progress. If you don’t want to progress, other players are going to overtake you. That’s why the champions, like Rafa and the others, even though they’re No 1 they want to get better all the time because they know that other players are progressing.”

Mouratoglou was talking at the launch of “Tennis Manager 2019”, a game for mobile devices which mirrors his role as a coach and head of one of the world’s most renowned tennis academies.

Tennis Manager 2019 is now available on Apple Store and Google Play worldwide. Further information can be found on this trailer: https://youtu.be/M0rlmxvCMcA