4 Lessons Patrick Mouratoglou Learned From Coaching Serena Williams

• By Grant Young

Serena Williams is a legendary American tennis player whose career has redefined the sport and set unparalleled standards of excellence. 

Turning professional in 1995, she quickly made her mark on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, showcasing her remarkable talent, powerful playing style, and fierce determination. 

Over the course of her illustrious career, Serena has achieved an astounding 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the highest number in the Open Era. Her major tournament victories include: 

Australian Open: 7 titles (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017) 

French Open: 3 titles (2002, 2013, 2015) 

Wimbledon: 7 titles (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016) 

US Open: 6 titles (1999, 2002, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017) 

In addition to her Grand Slam success, Serena has achieved significant milestones, including winning four Olympic gold medals in singles and doubles (one singles gold in 2012 and three doubles golds with her sister Venus in 2000, 2008, and 2012). She has completed a "Serena Slam," holding all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously in 2002-03 and again in 2015-2016. Serena has also been recognized for her longevity and consistency at the top level, having held the world No. 1 ranking for a total of 319 weeks, including a record 186 consecutive weeks from 2015 to 2017. 

Throughout her career, she has consistently demonstrated resilience and the ability to compete at an elite level, even after becoming a mother. And while Serena is an extraordinary talent, even she would admit that she couldn’t reach these heights without her head coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.

Serena Williams was coached by Patrick Mouratoglou from 2012 to 2022. Together, they won 10 Grand Slam singles titles and the American returned to the world No 1 ranking.

In addition to coaching Williams for a decade, Mouratoglou has Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Coco Gauff at his Mouratoglou Tennis Academy which is very well-known for being one of the most proficient training centers in the world.

In his ‘Patrick Mouratoglou - What Really Makes A Champion’ clinic, Coach Mouratoglou conveys some of the lessons he has learned from a decade coaching a tennis legend like Serena Williams, which can be used for any coach teaching tennis players of any level (don’t worry, they don’t have to be world champions). 

Importance of Admiration for Your Players - Coaching Serena

One lesson that Coach Mouratoglou believes was crucial to building his relationship with Serena Williams was to learn how to admire her abilities on the court.

While this might sound counterintuitive to what a coach is meant to do for their pupil (diagnose their weaknesses and figure out how to make them better), even coaches need to have a ‘Why’ when it comes to getting out of bed and doing their job each morning. 

This is made much easier when a coach has a genuine admiration and appreciation for the person they are coaching, both on and off the court. While it’s unavoidable that a coach and player will argue (especially in an individual sport like tennis), there needs to be mutual respect and admiration for each other if a long-term relationship is going to work over time, and Coach Mouratoglou learned this while coaching Williams. 

Noticing and Noting the Good and Bad

Of course, all coaches need to be able to notice what a player is doing wrong and work with them to correct that. But what’s perhaps just as (if not more) important is a coach's ability to notice and articulate the things that a player is doing well.

Coach Mouratoglou notes that if a player is only going to hear criticism from their head coach all day, every day, and never receive positive affirmation, not only is their confidence going to be shot by the end of the week but they will begin tuning their head coach out. 

Coach Mouratoglou likes to look at a person’s assets rather than their flaws first, which was important when coaching Williams because she had previously been coached by her father, who she of course had a strong relationship with.

Build Around Strengths, Not Weaknesses

Similar to this, Coach Mouratoglou entered his coaching relationship with Williams with a focus on strengthening what she’s already great at, rather than focusing on her weaknesses or what he believes she can improve upon. This was important for him because if she was able to improve upon what she was already great at (such as her iconic backhand), then nobody in the world could compete with her at it. 

And through addressing these strengths, the potential for one’s weaknesses (which are inevitable regardless of the player because being perfect is impossible) to show themselves during the competition is minimized as much as possible. 

Collaboration With a Training Plan

Of course, no tennis player can reach the pinnacle of their sport without knowing a thing or two about what works best for them in terms of training and preparation, both at a micro and a macro level. 

This is why a coach must be able to set their ego aside and collaborate with their player when it comes to putting a training plan together. Even if you aren’t coaching professional players, Coach Mouratoglou stresses that a player should always feel comfortable enough to voice their input on a training strategy. 

While this might not always result in you changing your training plan to cater to their desires, it’s important to hear a player out in order to gauge how they think a plan could be improved upon.