Patrick Mouratoglou explains reasoning behind swapping Serena Williams for Simona Halep
Patrick Mouratoglou expressed his delight to return to coaching as he swapped Serena Williams for Simona Halep and aims to transform Halep into “the best player possible.”
Last week, renowned coach Mouratoglou announced he will coach two-time Slam winner Simona Halep as he takes a break from coaching 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams.
With doubt surrounding when she will make a return after her recent injury struggles, Serena revealed she is targeting a return at this year’s Wimbledon.
In an interview with Tennis Majors, Mouratoglou said “when Simona was in Indian Wells, I decided to see Serena to discuss the situation.
“After this, I knew that at least short-term I could start working as a coach with somebody else.
“I went to see Simona and we had a discussion. I told her I was available and she said she was interested.
“So I told her, ‘let’s go back to the academy and we’ll start something and see how things are going.’ And things went extremely well from the first minute. So then the situation was clear.
“Honestly, since I’m back coaching with Simona, I cannot be happier. It’s an incredible satisfaction for me.”
Mouratoglou then shared what the duo are hoping to achieve, saying “the short-term plan is to do everything so she’s the best player possible. I think she’s achieved a lot already.
“She’s been [World] number one, she’s won Grand Slams, so she’s part of the very few players who’ve been able to achieve incredible things. She’s a champion, but I also feel that she has a big margin for improvement in many aspects, she’s still very hungry.
“It’s a fantastic basis to build something and with the goal to do at least as well as before. She feels she can give more to tennis and she wants to see how far she can go. And I believe she can go very far,” the Frenchman believes.
“I don’t think we should put any limits. There’s no reason why she couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to do that again. The goal is not to say ‘this is what we aim for,’ because sometimes you go much further than you think.
“The goal is to one day stop her career thinking, ‘I’ve done the maximum of what I could’ve done.’ And I think she has many years to go until she stops, and we want to make the best out of them.
“I think she still has potential to improve in many aspects of her game. So it’s very exciting.”
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