Patrick Mouratoglou, coach of Serena Williams for the past 10 years has joined Simona Halep as her full time coach. The Frenchman, who oversees the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Coco Gauff and Holger Rune will begin his tenure with Halep in Madrid next month.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT
In a newsletter to his subscribers, Mouratoglou wrote, “You know me as Serena Williams’ coach. Today I start a new chapter in my coaching career: I am Simona Halep’s full-time coach”. Mouratoglou has not been a full-time coach since Wimbledon 2021, when Serena Williams had to pull out due to injury. He remarked, “that he missed coaching big time, even more than what (he) thought”. This prompted him to accept Halep’s offer of becoming her coach. The offer came following a suggestion from Simona’s previous coach, Darren Cahill.
VISITING SERENA
Simona had visited the Mouratoglou Academy before flying to Indian Wells. It was over there that the two got to know each other although a collaboration was ruled out. While Halep played at Indian Wells, Mourataglou had flown out to meet Serena Williams. “After this discussion, I knew that at least short-term I could start working as a coach with somebody else” says Mouratoglou.
THE PLAN
The collaboration will begin on clay, with Roland Garros in sight. “The goal is to probably one day stop her career thinking, ‘I’ve done the maximum of what I could have done’” Mouratoglou said in an interview. He also expressed that, “She’s a champion. I also feel that she has a big margin for improvement in many aspects, and she’s still very hungry. So I think it’s a fantastic basis to build something and with the goal to do at least as good as before.”
Patrick Mouratoglou and Simona Halep will travel together for the first time to the WTA 1000 in Madrid (28 April – 7 May) to begin their on-Tour collaboration.
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