Coach Patrick Mouratoglou has declared Serena Williams the greatest player of all time in the women’s game. When it comes to men’s tennis, Mouratoglou is not ready to make his pick as he seemingly still wants to see how will the Grand Slam race between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal finish.
For a decade, Mouratoglou was Williams’ coach. During their time together, Mouratoglou established himself as one of the best coaches in the game. “Serena in women’s tennis and still tbd (to be determined) in men’s,” Mouratoglou tweeted.
Serena in women’s tennis and still tbd in men’s. https://t.co/782LxWdr9y — Patrick Mouratoglou (@pmouratoglou) February 9, 2023
Mouratoglou on how he taught Williams to ‘think like Serena again’
After Williams suffered a shock semifinal defeat to Roberta Vinci in the 2015 US Open, the American also suffered back-to-back Grand Slam final defeats at the 2017 Australian Open and 2017 French Open.
Mouratoglou noticed that the Vinci loss took a toll on Williams and he did his best to get the American back to her usual state of mind. “I taught Serena Williams to think like Serena again. She had forgotten that. So, she loses the US Open semifinal against Roberta Vinci and it had a huge impact on her.
Even though it is one defeat after four Grand Slams won in a row, and she was in the semifinal of the fifth. Then, she is in the Roland Garros final, playing extremely badly and the previous losses are still having an impact.
She can make it to the final as she has the tennis and physical qualities, but to win a final requires a specific headspace. Serena didn’t have it. So, I had to connect her to herself. I’ll never forget the 30 minutes before Roland Garros final.
I said to her ‘You have forgotten who you are, I need to remind you so sit down. I’m going to tell you your story.’ I tell her about her life. To make her realize how strong she is and how everything always depends on her. I don’t use those exact words, But I tell her in a way thar will resonate with her.
I say to myself, ‘That’s it, I’ve won, she’s going to into that court and smash it.’ And she loses. Honestly, I’m really surprised, I feel like I’ve lost. As I always take credit for the wins and the losses and here I failed.
However, the next day she call me and we speak. I hang up and say to the academy director who I was with, ‘Serena is Back. This is it. She’s going to win Wimbledon. That’s for sure’ And she wins Wimbledon, no surprises. She had reconnected with herself,” Mouratoglou said during a conversation with David Laroche.
