“I told her I was waiting for her and if she didn’t come I would consider myself free” Patrick Mouratoglou reveals the ‘extreme’ circumstances behind breaking partnership with Serena Williams
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Patrick Mouratoglou and Serena Williams
23-time grand slam champion Serena Williams has been away from the tennis court for almost a year now. After getting injured in the first round of Wimbledon last year, Serena hasn’t shown any signs of comeback. Many consider that Serena might never return to the tennis court and that she is unoffcially retired.
A few months ago, Serena’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou started a new partnership with Simona Halep. It was then speculated that it is a sign of Serena never coming back on the tennis court as her partnership with Mouratoglou was a very significant part of her career. The French coach never spoke about why he broke ties with Serena until recently, reported by Gazeta Sporturilor, at the Cluj Polyvalent sports festival, he described the circumstances in which he called it off with the American.
He said that he wanted to be fair and not disappoint Serena and that’s why he went to Serena ask about her future plans. He said that she didn’t have any clear plans regarding her future and he gave an ultimatum to her, that is she doesn’t show up for training, he;ll consider himself free.
“I wanted to be fair to her and not be disappointed at the end of my career,” Mouratoglou said. “I went to ask her what she was going to do. It wasn’t very clear to her. I asked her if she wanted to go to Roland Garros.”
“She told me she didn’t know. It was six weeks before the tour. I told her I was waiting for her on Monday for training and if she didn’t come I would consider myself free.”
‘I felt like I’m done with coaching’: Patrick Mouratoglou
Mouratoglou revealed that after Serena, he decided to take a break from coaching and felt like he’s done with coaching. He didn’t have any ethusiasm to work which was one of his biggest strengths.
“After Serena decided to take a break, I confessed to my loved ones that I feel like I’m done with coaching,” Mouratoglou said. “I knew that one of my strengths was that I had a lot of enthusiasm for my work. Without this enthusiasm I can’t be a good coach. I felt like I had lost it.”
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)