"It was like being in prison" - Rezai on being coached by Mouratoglou

The Portugal coach, Patrick Mouratoglou is considered to be one of the best coaches in the world. He has his own academy, he's a longtime coach of Serena Williams and coached players like Stefanos Tsitsipas or Grigor Dimitrov. Mouratoglou coached also Arvane Rezai, who reached her career-high and won 2 WTA titles during that period. Now, she looked back on her time spent with him and she doesn't see things as positive as they seemed to be before. Speaking to Punto de Break, Rezai said:

“What Patrick brought to my team was a real work plan. I was with my father on the track eight hours a day, but Patrick gave me that touch of professionalism: one hour of fitness, one hour of massage … In addition, he took me to quality training courts, gave me hitting partners, facilities. My father had a very strong character. Sometimes he was possessive, he wanted to protect me no matter what it took. I realized that Patrick sometimes wanted to calm that situation. The problem is that he was that type of person who does not accept his responsibilities. He pressured me to face my parents. He put me in front of them, face to face, to get what he wanted: full control. He wanted results and he didn’t care how he got them, he didn’t care about my education or my past,” Rezai said.

"I would not say that he is a great coach, but a great businessman: he knows how to play, how to analyze things from a tactical point of view. But if I go into details … In Madrid, I was put under enormous pressure to win that tournament. I couldn’t unwind, I couldn’t take the phone, the credit card, anything. It was like being in prison. I would get up at six in the morning to run an hour or two, do the physical training before my training, it was too much. My father put a lot of pressure on me and he thought that if I put extra pressure on me it would make me better. And the truth is that it worked, but there comes a time when you can’t take it anymore. That is why our relationship lasted just over a year. The people around me told him that I couldn’t take it anymore, but he replied that he didn’t care. I didn’t care about my mental health,” said Rezai.

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