Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams’ trainer for a decade, will work with another Grand Slam champion and former world number one: Simona Halep.
Mouratoglou announced his addition to Halep’s team via social media on Thursday, creating a formidable pairing, and raising questions about what that means for Williams’ future in tennis.
Holder of 23 singles titles, a professional-era record, Williams has not competed since injuring her right thigh in a first-round match at Wimbledon in June last year.
“Today I start a new chapter in my coaching career: I am now Simona Halep’s full-time coach. In the last eight months, I realized how much I missed training,” Mouratoglou wrote on Twitter. “It is the passion of my life and I feel that I still have a lot to give.”
Mouratoglou said Halep, a 30-year-old Romanian who won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019, trained at his academy ahead of the Indian Wells tournament last month.
He added that he watched some of Halep’s sessions.
“At the end of the week, she asked me if I was available to train her. I respect her enormously, but at that time it was impossible. A few weeks later, I had a conversation with Serena and a door was opened for me, at least in the short term, to work with another tennis player,” Mouratoglou said. “They will keep you informed soon about what is coming.”
Mouratoglou and Williams began working out shortly after she lost to Virginie Razzano in the first round of the French Open in 2012. That was the American’s first early exit from a Grand Slam tournament until her injury caused her to lose. forced to retire in the first set against Aliaksandra Sasnovich on June 29.
Williams was 30 years old when he began working with Mouratoglou. He won 13 of his Grand Slam singles titles before that and 10 since.
She will turn 41 in September and is currently ranked 246th due to her lack of activity on the WTA tour.
Halep, who beat Williams in the 2019 Wimbledon final, grabbed the top spot in the rankings in 2017 and is now 20th.
The Romanian tennis player missed much of last season due to a torn left calf. After reaching the semifinals at Indian Wells in March, she withdrew from the Miami Open due to a left thigh problem.
In September, she announced that she would no longer be coached by Darren Cahill, after six years together.
“Excited for a new chapter,” Halep wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “Let’s start working @pmouratoglou.”
