WATCH: “Grand Slam is 100 times more important,” Patrick Mouratoglou claims Olympic gold medal is of not much value in tennis

Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams' ex-coach, even rates the Masters 1000s over an Olympics gold in tennis.

WATCH: “Grand Slam is 100 times more important,” Patrick Mouratoglou claims Olympic gold medal is of not much value in tennis

Patrick Mouratoglou (L), Andy Murray (R) (Sources: Tennis Majors, Sky Sports)

French tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou recently made a controversial remark in his recent interview, where he claimed that tennis players across the world do not take the Olympics very seriously. He posted a video of the same on his Instagram account as a reel, as that is something that the 53-year-old has been doing lately. Mouratoglou gave some valid points to substantiate his claims and went on to say that there is not enough history between the Olympic Games and tennis. 

“There is no real connection between tennis and the Olympic Games. A lot of tennis players don’t feel that it’s such an important event for tennis. Initially, tennis was at the Olympics, then it got out, and finally, tennis was reintroduced,” said the French coach. 

YouTube video

Mouratoglou further continued,“As a consequence, there is no history between tennis and the Olympic Games. They feel that a Grand Slam is 100 times more important for a tennis player than the Olympic Games,”

FS Video

Patrick Mouratglou went on to say that as the Olympics are held every four years, it kind of diminishes its importance for the players. In fact, the tennis coach rated the Masters 1000s above the Olympics, as the players’ rankings depend on that. 

Well, Mouratoglou’s points indeed make sense and are valid. Although Grand Slam events are held every year, they hold value in a player’s life as it is immensely difficult to win a Major and they can make significant changes in a player’s rankings. On the other hand, as the Olympics are held every four years, their importance decreases tenfold. Moreover, the difficulty level of winning a gold medal in the Olympics is far less than that of winning a Grand Slam. 

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The most successful tennis players in the Olympics

British tennis player Andy Murray is the only tennis player to win a gold medal in tennis twice in the men’s division. Apart from that, John Boland, Laurence Doherty, Beals Wright, Josiah Richie, Charles Winslow, Louis Raymond, Vincent Richards, Miloslav Mecir, Marc Rosset, Andre Agassi, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Nicolas Massu, Rafael Nadal, and Alexander Zverev have all won Olympic gold in tennis once. Novak Djokovic has only won an Olympic bronze once while Roger Federer has an Olympic silver to his name. 

Serena Williams and Venus Williams
Serena Williams and Venus Williams (Source: BBC)

In the women’s event, Venus Williams and Patrick Mouratoglou’s ex-student Serena Williams are the two most successful tennis players in the Olympics. Both of them have four golds to their name. Venus also has a silver to her name. Kathleen McKane Godfree has one Olympic gold, 2 silvers, and 3 bronze medals to her name while Belinda Bencic has one gold and one silver to her name. 

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