Serena Williams enjoyed a legendary tennis career, winning 23 Grand Slams, an Open Era record.
The American icon broke through to win her first major at the 1999 US Open, defeating Martina Hingis in the final.
Over the next decade or so, Williams added another 12 Grand Slams to her trophy cabinet, taking her tally to 13.
However, after a brief period of poor form (by her standards), Williams added coach Patrick Mouratoglou to her team in the summer of 2012.
Immediately finding success together, Williams won another 10 Grand Slams with the Frenchman by her side.
During an Instagram Q&A, Mouratoglou shared how he approached coaching Williams.
Patrick Mouratoglou says ‘anyone can progress’, even Serena Williams
The legendary French coach was asked the following question.
“How do you even correct mistakes in Serena’s game when she’s at such a high level?” one fan asked.
Explaining his approach to coaching Williams, Mouratoglou said this.
“Anyone can progress. Anyone. Number one in the world, greatest player of all time, that’s what is amazing about tennis, is that you can always improve,” he said.
“When I started with Serena [Williams], of course, she was already great; she had 13 Grand Slam titles, but I thought there were a lot of things she could improve.
“As she wanted to improve as well, we could do the work.
“My goal was to know that she had made progress just by having better statistics.
“Higher % of wins, more titles, more Grand Slams per year.”
Mouratoglou then shared the areas of Williams’ game he focused on.
“She had a great serve, she had a great forehand, a great backhand, a great return, but all of those things could progress,” he said.
“You can have a higher % of 1st serves, you can hit more serve winners, your second serve can do more damage.
“In some situations, the forehand was great, in others, maybe not as great, so we could progress there.
“There are so many details, this game is so complex!
“There are so many situations that the players are in, that there are always some situations in which they can be more efficient.”
Mouratoglou certainly helped Williams improve, helping the American cement her legacy as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Who else has Patrick Mouratoglou coached?
Mouratoglou worked with several players before joining Williams’ team.
He began his coaching career alongside Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, guiding him to the Australian Open final in 2006.
Soon after, Mouratoglou made a switch to the WTA Tour, offering his services to the likes of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Aravane Rezai, Yanina Wickmayer, and Laura Robson.
Short stints alongside Jeremy Chardy and Grigor Dimitrov followed before he joined up with Williams.
Post-Williams, Mouratoglou has coached Stefanos Tsitsipas, Simona Halep, Holger Rune, and Naomi Osaka.
He is currently out of work, however, after departing Osaka’s team last year.
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