"I told her I was waiting for her on Monday for training and if she didn't come I would consider myself free" - Patrick Mouratoglou on his split with Serena Williams
Tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou recently spoke about how he split with Serena Williams. The 52-year-old started coaching the American in 2012 and under his tutelage, she won 10 Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic singles gold, among other tournaments.
Mouratoglou and Serena Williams parted ways earlier this year and he now coaches Simona Halep.
Excited for a new chapter. Let's get to work @pmouratoglou https://t.co/U9Zbn5Gtth
While speaking at a sports festival at Cluj Polyvalent, the Frenchman explained how his stint with Serena Williams came to an end. Mouratoglou revealed that he asked the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion about her plans for the season and whether she wanted to go to Roland Garros. He also told her that he would consider himself "free" if she did not come to training the following Monday.
"I wanted to be fair to her and not be disappointed at the end of my career," Mouratoglou was quoted as saying by Gazeta Sporturilor. "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 he 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."
Mouratoglou also said that after splitting with Serena Williams, he decided to take a break from coaching and told his loved ones that he felt like he was done being a coach.
"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."
"I think Simona is incredibly generous in everything she does" - Patrick Mouratoglou
During the event, Patrick Mouratoglou heaped praise on Simona Halep, calling her "incredibly generous" and someone who was not satisfied with "half measures."
"I think Simona is incredibly generous in everything she does. She is a generous woman, in the ordinary sense, but also a generous sportswoman in effort. She is not satisfied with half measures. Courage and resilience also characterize her as a person," he said.
Halep is currently 20th in the WTA rankings, with 20 wins out of 27 matches this season. The 30-year-old won the Melbourne Summer Set 1 and made the semifinals of the Indian Wells Open in March.
Halep will next compete at the Birmingham Classic, where she is seeded second and will face a qualifier in the first round.
Main draw in Birmingham (WTA 250), where Jelena Ostapenko and Simona Halep are the top seeds. https://t.co/x4REX9cyad