‘I Could Open Up With Him’ – Simona Halep on How Serena Williams’ Ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou Makes Her Find New Life in Her Game

Romanian tennis star Simona Halep had been one of the consistent performers on the tour for the last few years. Recently, though, her form dipped quite a bit this year. As a result, she changed her coaching unit multiple times, which also affected her performance on the tour.

After the Indian Wells, she decided to team up with Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. Since then, she improved her performance dramatically. In a recent interview, she opened up about how Patrick became her coach. 

Simona Halep talked about teaming up with Patrick Mouratoglou

In a recent interview with Tennis Majors, 2-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep shared some of the information about how she joined Patrick, even though he was Serena’s coach. She revealed that her former coach, Darren Cahill, encouraged her to go to the Mouratoglou Academy in France. Since then, she and Patrick have built a great relationship. 

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“I knew Patrick (Mouratoglou) is with Serena (Williams), so I didn’t have that in my mind that it is gonna be possible. We met each other here a little bit and I got a super good feeling with him. And then, in Miami, we met. He said he’s not free because he’s working with Serena, which I knew. And then, in Miami… he said he’s available to do it. So, I was the happiest because I had a good feeling with him and I thought that, probably he’s the only chance that he can turn my inside to be still in tennis,” Simona said about Patrick. 

Simona also said that Patrick has the ability to make her mentally strong. “The confidence, because I feel him super powerful inside on this aspect. Tennis-wise, super super good, because when we started we talked what I have to do and what he thinks I should do better on court.”

“We are on the same page and I can listen to him 100% without doubts so that makes everything easier because I’m not very open to people in general… Now, I felt like I could open with him and I trust him 100%,” she further added on how Patrick is helping to boost her confidence. 

Halep makes a great start at the Madrid Open 

Incidentally, Madrid Open is the first tournament Halep is playing since partnering with the French Coach. The progression is quite visible in her game, as she cruised through to the fourth round after winning her first two matches. Especially, in her third-round match, the way she destroyed the world no.2 Paula Badosa will definitely boost her confidence. 

In the round of 16, she will face Coco Gauff, the 18-year-old American tennis star. Incidentally, Gauff has a higher ranking than Simona and has performed really well so far at the Madrid Open. Certainly, it will be a tough match for the Romanian tennis player. 

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Can Simona win against Gauff? Let us know in the comments.