Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou has opened up on her recent losses.
The American 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, 38, has lost four major finals since she and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, welcomed their daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., on Sept. 1, 2017.
She returned to tennis four months after giving birth with the aim of breaking Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. But she hasn’t able to break the record.
Just last month, Serena Williams was knocked out of the Australian Open in the third round.
Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, who has worked with her since 2012, has said the tennis legend needs to “change her strategy” and “face reality” having not won a Grand Slam title since returning to tennis.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Mouratoglou said: “We have to accept the fact that it is not working. Maybe come back with a different angle, a different strategy and different goals so she can make it.”
He added: “She does feel positive, she feels negative too because it is a failure when she doesn’t win a Grand Slam. We have to face reality, but she is positive that she can make it otherwise she probably wouldn’t be on a tennis court anymore. She believes she can make it and I believe it too. She’s not that far, but we have to change a few things.”
He said of her Australian Open performance: “We didn’t expect at all to be losing so early, or to be losing at all. She had everything to retire, 23 Grand Slam titles. But she decided to come back, she decided to make all the efforts, the physical efforts, the mental efforts, to come back to the game, with the goal to score more Grand Slams and beat the all-time record. It’s difficult to know how many chances she will have, I don’t know how long she is going to be able to play, but being able to reach four Grand Slam finals says a lot about her level, and she’s not that far.”
Her level is good enough but we have to understand what is going on and why she is not able to win one. There is a big difference between reaching a final and winning one.”
