Serena Williams ex-coach recounts infamous US Open incident

Famous tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou recalled an incident while working with the former world number one Serena Williams which turned out to be a bad one for them but a great one for tennis. The 53-year-old has spent a lot of time working with one of the most successful players in the history of women’s tennis who has won 23 Grand Slam titles.

Mouratoglou recalled an incident which happened in the final of the US Open 2018, where his giving advice led to an argument between Serena and the chair umpire. Mouratoglou was of the opinion that the day turned out to be a ‘terrible’ one for Serena and himself as not only did they lose the title, but they were in the news for the wrong reasons. Despite that, in his opinion, the day was a great one for tennis as a sport, as the controversy attracted a lot more attention.

"It was a terrible day for us,” he recalled. “It was a bad day, bittersweet day for Naomi. It was her first Grand Slam, but people had more attention on the drama, in a way. For us it was really painful, and a lot of bad press. First of all, the drama was so big, because it was a Grand Slam final and it was Serena, all the media all around the world, not just sports media, were talking about tennis. So for tennis, it was a great day. I think we need drama to just draw more attention to the game."