Riccardo Piatti ditches Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner to name Maria Sharapova as the ‘most impressive player’ he ever coached

Piatti talked about how he enjoyed coaching all three players but rated his coaching period with Sharapova as the best.

Riccardo Piatti ditches Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner to name Maria Sharapova as the ‘most impressive player’ he ever coached

(L-R) Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner. (credits: Tennisnet.com, Sportskeeda)

There are very few coaches in the world who get the chance to coach a World No. 1 and also a Career Slam winner, but to be able to coach two such players in their coaching career is one of the greatest feats a coach can ever reach. 

Italian coach Riccardo Piatti has, in his time, coached both Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova and has also been in touch with tennis sensation Jannik Sinner, who is also coming up the ranks quickly in recent times. 

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In a recent interview with Monaco TV, Piatti talked about how he enjoyed coaching all three players but rated his coaching period with Sharapova as the best. Piatti expressed his grief over how his coaching stint with the Russian was so short-lived as Maria was approaching the end of her career. 

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That’s not all; he further talked about how impressed he was by her work ethic, and because she was in the last stage of her career, both looked at tennis quite differently.

Unfortunately, the player who impressed me the most is the one I trained the least, I trained her for around ten months. It's a woman and it's Maria Sharapova. I have coached most of the men, Djokovic, Ljubicic, etc. But with Sharapova, it was really very special because she was nearing the end of her career and she wanted to experience another side of tennis.
Piatti said

Riccardo Piatti talks about his coaching period with Maria Sharapova

Piatti also revealed how the ten-eleven months he worked with Sharapova made him learn about the brilliance of the Russian. 

I had this opportunity to work with her and honestly, we spent ten, eleven months together during which I was able to appreciate her way of reasoning, of thinking. She has priorities and she knows them very well. She devotes herself enormously to work.
He said
Ricardo Piatti and Maria Sharapova during a holiday tour together. (credits: espansionetv.it)

Piatti also stated that Sharapova always respected and kept her team members close, having a lot of affinity. Moreover, focusing on the results point of things, Piatti said that the fact that they didn’t win any titles together was very unfortunate. He also added that she was the only player whom he had coached and ended up never winning any trophies with.

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