‘Trying to Make Me Look Bad’ – Serena Williams’ Ex-coach Gets Into an Ugly War of Words With 22-Time Former Grand Slam Champion

The 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou recently shared his views related to the latest decision of ATP. He wrote about ATP following in WTA’s footsteps in trialing off-court coaching.

However, his words have landed on the wrong side for many people from the tennis fraternity. Mouratoglou, who himself has trained several ATP players, has received severe criticism for his take on ATP;s trial.

Patrick Mouratoglou on ATP’s landmark decision

The French tennis coach, when stumbled upon the news, tweeted, “Congratulations to the ATP for ‘legalizing’ a practice that has been going on at almost every match for decades. No more hypocrisy.” 

Following that, the former World No.13, Nick Kyrgios replied to Mouratoglou’s tweet and wrote, “Completely disagree. Loses one of the only unique traits that no other sport had. The player had to figure out things on his own. That was the beauty of it. What happens if a high-profile player versus a low ranked player who doesn’t have or afford a coach?”

Todd Woodbridge weighs in

Mouratoglou’s claims about off-court coaching irked the Australian tennis veteran Todd Woodbridge as well. As the 22-time doubles Grand Slam champion responded by writing, “This is so disappointing to see that such a high-profile coach blatantly admits that he has broken the rules of our sport for so long.”

Thereafter, the current World No.6 Stefanos Tsitsipas’s coach responded to the backlash and replied to Todd Woodbridge, who, according to him, failed to understand what the meaning behind his words. And wrote, “And by the way, learn to read. I never wrote that I was doing what you pretend I wrote.”

About ATP’s off-court training guidelines

The trail will run through the second half of this year and will come in action a week after the Grand Slam of grass in London. Hence, it will include the US Open and will end in November alongside the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

Read more: ‘I Would Consider Myself Free’ – Serena Williams’ Ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou Narrates Last Conversation With Her Before Breaking off Ties

Further, there are some rules around the same in order to avoid unnecessary conflict of interest. Such as the coaches will have to sit in the designated seats and any sort of communication that might lead to interruption of the opponent’s game will be not be entertained .

Verbal communication will only be permitted when the player and his coach are in same end of court. And coaches cannot speak to their players when they are on comfort break or seeking medical help. Also, breaching any of these rules will bring penalties and fines upon the responsible person.

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The ATP plans to perform a collective evaluation at the end of this year to determine whether off-court coaching should be part of subsequent seasons.