SIMONA HALEP ANNOUNCES PATRICK MOURATOGLOU AS FULL-TIME COACH AS SERENA WILLIAMS HIATUS CONTINUES
Williams first hired Mouratoglou in 2012 but has been off court since last Wimbledon, allowing the French coach to begin working Halep in a “short-term” arrangement.
By
David Kane
Published Apr 07, 2022
Simona Halep revealed Patrick Mouratoglou would serve as her full-time coach effective immediately, sharing the news on social media Thursday morning.
“Excited for a new chapter,” tweeted the former world No. 1.
Halep has been without a coach since parting with both Daniel Dobre and Adrian Marcu—itself a fairly new arrangement in the wake of her split with longtime coach Darren Cahill—following the Australian Open, and initially opted to coach herself through the Middle East swing.
After an early exit at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open, Halep posted images from a Mouratoglou Academy practice session. It was then that Halep, according to Mouratoglou, first asked to work together, but the French coach declined due to his commitments to 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams. Halep instead traveled to the BNP Paribas Open with Academy coach Morgan Bourbon, reaching the semifinals.
Mouratoglou, who has worked with the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Coco Gauff in a consulting capacity, has made 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams his main coaching priority since the pair teamed up in the summer of 2012—famously after her first-round Roland Garros defeat to Virginie Razzano.
Williams went on to win four of the next six majors and return to No. 1 in the WTA rankings for the first time since missing nearly a year of action due to a foot injury and subsequent pulmonary embolism in 2010.
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PATRICK Drops Serena For SIMONA?
Re: PATRICK Drops Serena For SIMONA?Patrick never goes for underdeveloped players. He only joins slam winners. Good luck, little diamond. |