Chinese kids urged to spread wings
Serena Williams’ coach says leaving Asia is crucial to developing talent
Patrick Mouratoglou, coach of 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, believes young Chinese players must be prepared to gain as much experience abroad as possible in order to compete with the best.
The 47-year-old, who nurtures stars of the future at his academy near Nice in southeastern France, said Chinese prospects are never lacking for application but that learning different styles of play is crucial to their development.
“The big thing is to learn from people who have a lot of experience in tennis and get to play with a lot of different players with different styles and qualities,” Mouratoglou told Chinese media at Roland Garros on Sunday.
“In general, the good thing is that Chinese players are hard workers, but they have to leave China.
“Asian players play all the same kind of tennis, and there is not enough variety. They are not used to playing with European and American players, who play a really different style from Asian players.
“It’s important when you see all different situations, get used to that and learn to find solutions against different players.
“If you always stay to play with people playing the same kind of tennis, you don’t make the progress that you have to make.”
Li Na, who retired two years ago, remains China’s only Grand Slam champion after her 2011 win in Paris and three years later in Australia.
Mouratoglou thinks China might have to wait a decade or three to find its next major winner.
“China is a big country for sports, but doesn’t have experience in tennis,” he said.
“It’s a new sport for China, so it’s important to learn from people with a lot of experience. Maybe 10, 20 or 30 years from now, Chinese people will know tennis as well as people in Europe.”
Winning mentality
Mouratoglou has been Williams’ coach since 2012. The American is back competing in Paris for the first time since giving birth to her daughter.
Much is often made of the 36-year-old’s superior physicality, but Mouratoglou said it’s her mental toughness that sets her apart from the rest of the pack.
“A lot of things make Serena a great champion, but if I have to name one, it’s the way that she thinks. She thinks like a champion,” he said.
“Her level of expectation is high. In practice, she refuses to go under. In matches, she refuses to lose.
“She’s an incredible fighter and competitor. She is different from anyone on many levels, but it is because she always thinks like a champion that makes her so different.”
That steeliness is likely to undergo its sternest test yet since her return when she faces old foe Maria Sharapova in Monday’s fourth round of the French Open.
Mouratoglou said Williams’ choice to skip the warm-up tournaments in favor of intensive training will stand her in good stead.
“After we did the first two practices, I told her that she was not ready. There were two options: the first was to play tournaments and probably not win them and go to Roland Garros unprepared, or skip these two tournaments and do five weeks of really intensive training to have a chance of being ready,” said the coach.
“She arrived at Roland Garros without any matches, which is not great, but I prefer Serena ready with no match than not ready with a few matches.
“The way she worked during these five weeks was unbelievable. She worked really hard. We did a plan for her to get her back in shape, get her body and tennis ready. It was pretty intense, but she did incredibly well.
“I was impressed by the quality and intensity she had. I knew she would be ready for Roland Garros, except that she didn’t have enough competitions behind her.
“On the other hand, Serena is a natural competitor, so she should find a way. She is not 100 percent on her movement, but moves well enough to win. I cannot do a miracle, we only had five weeks. We took the best of what we could take for these five weeks.”
Mouratoglou and his charge hit the ground running.
“The first match (7-6, 6-4 against Kristyna Pliskova) was tough, it was difficult to get to her rhythm,” he said.
“The second match (3-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Ashleigh Barty) she felt incredibly sore after the first match, because she could not compete for so long, but the level was really good.
“Yesterday (6-3, 6-4 against Julia Goerges) she had a really good match.
“Maybe she doesn’t move as well as she can, but she compensated that by serving good and being super aggressive and dictating the pace. That’s another of her strengths.”
Tip for the top
The Mouratoglou Tennis Academy has fostered many of today’s top pros, including Grigor Dimitrov, Ivo Karlovic and Marcos Baghdatis.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, a former junior world No 1 and ranked 39th on the ATP, is the latest player off the production line, and Mouratoglou has high hopes for the Greek 19-yearold.
“First he is a good competitor and has made a lot of progress,” Mouratoglou said of Tsitsipas, whose French Open campaign was ended in the second round by seventh seed Dominic Thiem (2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4).
“Tennis is very much about understanding how you can use your weapons and your game to win. It’s about how should I play, what is my technical way to play good, and how can I use my strength so that I can control and win the game.
“He has a very good backhand. We worked a lot on turning around his backhand to use his forehand more accurately.
“When you do that, you control the game and have many intentional plays, otherwise you become passive.”