“I thought I was a terrible coach”: Patrick Mouratoglou recalls painful lesson with Baghdatis

Patrick Mouratoglou has coached some of the greatest names in tennis, but even he admits his journey began with doubts. Long before working with Serena Williams or Stefanos Tsitsipas, he found himself at a Challenger event in Bratislava with a young Marcos Baghdatis — and questioning whether he was cut out for the job.

Baghdatis, then ranked around No. 300, had battled through qualifying to reach the final, where he faced Dominik Hrbatý, a Top 15 player at the time. On paper, the contest looked one-sided. Hrbatý’s weapons and experience seemed far superior. Mouratoglou recalls sitting courtside and thinking his player had no chance. “Erbati has a better forehand, better backhand, better serve, moves better. And I remember I thought, it’s going to be tough to win this one,” he said.

His fears grew quickly as Baghdatis fell behind 4-1. The French coach admits he all but wrote off the match at that point. “And Marcos won. And if you ask me how, I have no idea, but he found a way,” Mouratoglou reflected. Instead of crumbling, the teenager turned the match around, stunning both the crowd and his coach.

For Mouratoglou, the lesson was personal. “After that match, I thought I was a terrible coach because I didn’t believe in my player. I learned something big this day,” he confessed. In his mind, a coach’s role was not only to design strategies but to embody belief — even when the situation looks hopeless.

The experience shaped his philosophy. Baghdatis had every reason to doubt, yet his mindset carried him through. “Thankfully, he didn’t feel it. Otherwise, he would probably have lost. But he believed,” Mouratoglou explained. “The guy plays better for the moment, I’ll find a way. And he found a way. And that’s really special.”

That Challenger match in Bratislava became a turning point in Mouratoglou’s career. It showed him that talent and ranking matter less than conviction under pressure. More importantly, it taught him that even the coach’s doubts can’t outweigh a player’s belief. For Baghdatis, it was the start of a career that would lead to a Grand Slam final. For Mouratoglou, it was the beginning of a coaching philosophy that has since helped shape champions.

Mouratoglou coached Marcos Baghdatis from his junior years between 1999 and 2006, guiding him to the junior world No. 1 ranking in 2003. He then coached WTA players like Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Aravane Rezaï, Yanina Wickmayer, and Laura Robson until 2012. It was then that he returned to the ATP, working with Jérémy Chardy and Grigor Dimitrov.

After a few months with the Bulgarian, their relationship ended when it was announced that Mouratoglou would move on to work with Serena Williams—who had recently suffered her first-ever first-round defeat at a major at Roland Garros. With Mouratoglou, she went on to win the next two Grand Slams, reaching 15th major titless—and he would, in fact, be her coach for a total of 10 major titles and six other finals.

The Frenchman has since had some controversial partnerships with Simona Halep and Holger Rune. He became involved in the much-publicized doping case of the former world No. 1, while with the Dane, he had two separate stints, both lasting only a few months. In late 2024, he partnered with former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka, but recently separated from the Japanese player when she was ranked world No. 49. Osaka quickly rebounded after starting a partnership with Tomasz Wiktorowski—former coach of Iga Swiatek—with whom she reached the final of the WTA 1000 Canadian Open and the semifinals of the US Open in their first two tournaments together.