How does among the finest male gamers in tennis historical past select a brand new coach?
Decide any person who has been there with you — and who you beat to get there. Novak Djokovic’s determination to rent Andy Murray for at the very least the Australian Open has renewed curiosity in some of the fascinating psychological relationships in sport: The tennis participant and their coach.
Djokovic has at all times sought out a coach who has scaled the mountain he selected, hiring Boris Becker, Andre Agassi and Goran Ivanisevic all through his profession, all of them, like Murray, former Wimbledon champions and a number of main winners, Ivanisevic aside. He wants the voice of somebody who he respects and who’s completely satisfied to have it out with him mid-match — till they aren’t. Just a few months after Djokovic and Ivanisevic parted methods in March this 12 months, six seasons and 12 main titles within the financial institution, Ivanisevic defined that they merely ran out of persistence with one another.
Djokovic’s determination comes on the again of a reshuffle on the prime of the WTA Tour, with world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, world No. 3 Coco Gauff, world No. 6 Elena Rybakina and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka all firing after which hiring within the wake of the U.S. Open in a bid to resume their video games, work on method, strengthen relationships, achieve an edge — or somewhat, a mixture of all these items that’s distinctive to every participant’s priorities and every coach’s means of working. That blend can win titles and encourage careers, nevertheless it had higher work, with gamers and their groups on the street collectively and dealing at shut quarters for virtually your entire 12 months.
“I think about that if I had a household and youngsters, I might not be right here in any respect,” world No. 18 Marta Kostyuk’s coach Sandra Zaniewska mentioned in an interview with The Athletic earlier this 12 months.
A technical grasp or a sideline hype grasp? A confirmed champion or a growing prospect? Gamers and coaches alike have myriad choices to make in selecting one another.
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There are all kinds of things that go into selecting a coach. Generally gamers wish to work on one thing technical, whether or not a shot or a floor. Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka introduced in former Wimbledon champion Richard Kraijeck in 2016 to enhance his grass-court tennis; Roger Federer and Murray did the identical factor for clay with Jose Higueras and Alex Corretja respectively.
Djokovic employed Ivanisevic — who’s now with Rybakina — partly to enhance his serve, rising its fluency and turning Djokovic into some of the feared and exact servers within the sport within the early 2020s. Searching for a greater internet sport, Djokovic employed Australian participant Mark Woodforde, who received 11 Grand Slam doubles titles with fellow ‘Woody’ Mark Woodbridge; he employed former U.S. Open finalist Todd Martin to work on his serve earlier in his profession with much less profitable outcomes.
Technical modifications had been the principle motivation behind Gauff’s determination to separate with Brad Gilbert, with whom she received the U.S. Open in 2023. Gilbert coached Gauff to deflect the vulnerabilities in her serve and forehand by turning matches into battles of protection and attrition; he would inform her to hit her forehand with a sluggish, looping arc to neutralize assaults. When opponents figured this out — and her serve stored letting her down — it was time for a change, not simply in her sport however in the kind of teaching that might assist her progress.
“I wished somebody to assist me with what I wished to see progress in, particularly on the serve,” Gauff mentioned in a information convention on the WTA Tour Finals in Saudi Arabia, which she received in an early enhance to her relationship with Matt Daly, a specialist on each footwork and grip method who co-created a coaching gadget to assist gamers enhance their grip, and Jean-Christophe Faurel.
“JC” has labored with Gauff beforehand and gamers usually return to coaches they know and belief. Djokovic went again to long-time coach Marian Vajda in 2018 earlier than they break up for a second time 4 years later. Murray did likewise, bringing Ivan Lendl again in 2016 after the latter had stepped down two years earlier, after which once more for a 3rd spell in 2022. As when soccer golf equipment sack and rent managers, availability is the intangible that is still out of gamers’ management and selecting a well-known face will be simpler than going into the unknown, particularly within the case of Djokovic, 37, who doesn’t have a lot time left in his profession to take a punt on one thing new.
Gauff switched from a tactical to a technical focus in her teaching crew (Artur Widak / NurPhoto by way of Getty Pictures)
Emma Raducanu is one other participant centered on enhancing a particular shot — usually the serve or forehand. If she doesn’t really feel it’s working, she is fast to maneuver on. Torben Beltz, who was introduced in to enhance Raducanu’s forehand in November 2021, was sacked 5 months later when it was felt that inadequate progress was being made. Raducanu doesn’t need a hype man or lady, however technical experience.
One of the crucial profitable examples of technical focus in current occasions comes from girls’s world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who reworked her serve with the help of biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan after it utterly broke down in 2022.
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It’s one thing Swiatek, who Sabalenka dethroned as world No. 1 in October, is on the lookout for from her new relationship with Wim Fissette. Fissette, who has had Grand Slam-winning success with Kim Clijsters, Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka, is likely one of the most outstanding coaches on the WTA Tour. Their uniting supplied a window into the mutual issues that gamers and coaches undertake when starting a relationship, which representatives from each have defined over the previous few weeks.
Swiatek, by her personal admission an overthinker, spoke to Fissette by telephone earlier than assembly in particular person in Warsaw to debate “the specifics of the technicalities and what he wished to vary in my sport”. At a information convention on the WTA Finals earlier this month, Swiatek mentioned that Fissette “added some further stuff that I haven’t considered” in addition to aligning together with her personal concepts for enchancment.
On a private degree, Swiatek appreciated Fissette’s listening expertise, which gamers and associates mentioned is one among his defining traits as a coach in interviews with The Athletic final month.
“The communication was type of easy. He additionally let me discuss quite a bit and he was capable of hearken to me and this was fairly enjoyable,” Swiatek mentioned. Fissette advised Eurosport final month that he wished to work with Swiatek after splitting with former world No. 1 Osaka, who switched to working with Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou in September.
“Not solely as a result of she is No. 1 on this planet but additionally due to her character, which is a job mannequin for different tennis gamers,” Fissette mentioned.
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Character is the opposite deciding consider player-coach relationships: Not simply whether or not they work or not, however how lengthy they may final. Whereas gamers are usually the extra ruthless celebration in ending partnerships regardless of the now de rigueur mutually gushy Instagram bulletins, coaches can typically take the choice.
Fissette was working with world No. 5 Zheng Qinwen when he determined to rejoin Osaka’s crew final 12 months, a choice which left Zheng blindsided and heartbroken. Zheng has since reunited with Pere Riba, who helped her to an Olympic gold medal and a primary Grand Slam last in 2024. They’ve a unusual dynamic whereby throughout apply periods at a match, Zheng dictates the periods, however Riba calls the pictures in coaching; they discovered the compromise after studying one another’s personalities, a crucial course of in each relationship.
Jessica Pegula, who reached the U.S. Open last in September after splitting with David Witt and bringing on Mark Knowles and Mark Merklein, mentioned the significance of retaining id in a information convention on the WTA Tour Finals. “I believe you may see a training state of affairs doesn’t work out as a result of they attempt to change the participant an excessive amount of,” she mentioned.
“You clearly need to get together with the particular person. You could have to have the ability to reply properly to them.”
American world No. 18 Frances Tiafoe was subsequent to rent Witt and he reached the U.S. Open semifinals with the American in his field. “Somebody must push me and maintain me accountable, but additionally make it enjoyable for me,” Tiafoe mentioned in a information convention on the match.
“In case you come at me with a drill-sergeant-type mentality, I’m going to go the opposite means.”
Patrick McEnroe, who has been guiding gamers since retiring in 1998, labored with Tiafoe on the Laver Cup exhibition occasion. “He brings a sure vitality to everybody round him, so clearly you’ve bought to know that coming in.”
Mouratoglou, who coached Simona Halep and Holger Rune between Williams and Osaka, described the should be a “chameleon” in a current Zoom interview forward of his arrival in London for Final Tennis Showdown, his fundamental pursuit exterior of teaching.
Mouratoglou with Osaka in Beijing earlier this 12 months (Robert Prange / Getty Pictures)
“My job is to know I can’t be the identical each time,” he mentioned.
“Serena wanted to really feel that she was accountable for every little thing. In case you don’t win the title, it’s nothing. It’s No. 1 or nothing.
“Simona was the other, she wished me to be accountable for every little thing.” After Halep had a panic assault on the 2022 French Open, Mouratoglou realized he needed to again off the depth that had labored with Williams.
“She felt the strain of getting to ship was hurting her. I utterly modified the best way I used to be interacting together with her.” Halep then reached the Wimbledon semifinals earlier than being provisionally suspended in October 2022 after testing optimistic for roxadustat. Tennis integrity authorities suspended her for 4 years in 2023 earlier than the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decreased the ban to 9 months on enchantment in March this 12 months after accepting that the optimistic take a look at got here from a contaminated complement. Mouratoglou mentioned he felt “accountable” for Halep’s case in an Instagram video in 2023.
Now working with Osaka, Mouratoglou mentioned the previous world No. 1 is “a really fascinating character” however “not simple to know as a result of she’s very secretive and retains quite a bit inside.”
“I believe when it comes to sport and work to do, we’re actually on the identical web page. However there may be this piece that is essential, which is knowing the individual that she is. That can take extra time.”
Within the sea of current modifications, world No. 1 Sabalenka has been an oasis of calm. She prioritizes coaches who can perceive her distinctive character and has constructed a relationship together with her long-time coaches Jason Stacy and Anton Dubrov over time after some “actually dangerous experiences” that left her “betrayed”.
“I used to be (by no means) on the lookout for large names as a result of typically large names are simply large names,” she added at a information convention on the WTA Tour Finals earlier this month. “I used to be on the lookout for somebody good and somebody who’s at all times on the lookout for one thing.
“I used to be on the lookout for somebody who can perceive that even when I’m going loopy on courtroom, it’s nothing private.”
“Anton, I knew him, since I don’t know 15, as a result of he was within the academy once I was practising.
“With Jason, it took us two years to open up and belief him totally and to know him as an individual and I’m actually glad I didn’t kick him out.”
Sabalenka has discovered success in stability after remodelling her serve with a specialist (Robert Prange / Getty Pictures)
Former U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev additionally treasures stability, working with fundamental coach Gilles Cervara for greater than seven years earlier than bringing on former world No. 6 Gilles Simon, which is extra just like Djokovic’s determination to deliver on Murray. “I’m not somebody who needs to continually change and search for one thing new,” he mentioned in a information convention on the Laver Cup in September.
Argentina’s world No. 30 Francisco Cerundolo echoed the advantages of getting a number of coaches at a information convention a few months in the past, however America’s Danielle Collins in the meantime mentioned in an interview earlier this month that she prefers to not have a lot of a crew round her: She likes working issues out herself and isn’t at all times satisfied of the worth that coaches can deliver.
That worth will be laborious to quantify. In Djokovic’s case, the rarefied degree at which he operates means it’ll probably come down as to whether Murray can present the fitting kind of vitality to assist him recover from the road for an eleventh time on the Australian Open. Murray’s capability to soak up and defuse the frustration that comes his means from Djokovic, similar to his coaches needed to attempt to do when he was hurling invective their means throughout his personal profession, could also be his largest asset because the rivals turned companions set up crucial aspect of any relationship.
“The primary factor is to belief them,” world No. 4 Jasmine Paolini advised The Athletic in Riyadh.
(High photographs: Getty Pictures; design: Kelsea Pietersen)
