Patrick Mouratoglou advises Nick Kyrgios to change his attitude. And praises another player of the next generation: Alexander Zverev.
When Patrick Mouratoglou talks about the true talents that bring a tennis professional to the top, young aspirants in particular should listen to the French star coach. After all, Mouratoglou has not only been successfully working alongside Serena Williams for years, he has also accompanied Grigor Dimitrov on his way to the top. A man of incredible talent from the very beginning of his career. Talent of a playful nature.
But that is not enough. Mouratoglou explains in a video, which he has published about his tennis academy, that the real treasures are hidden somewhere else: in hard work and great ambition.
“Having a talent for hitting the ball well doesn’t always help. It helps in some situations, but it is dangerous,”says Mouratoglou. When I worked with Dimitrov, I explained it to him. Because he’s very talented. I told Grigor,”Never listen to anyone who tells you you’re talented because talented players often think they can succeed without hard work.”
There is no shortage of case studies in current tennis, and one player in particular seems to disappoint Patrick Mouratoglou:”Nick Kyrgios is talented at the moment, but so are others. But it’s about how much I give, how much I fight during the matches. I would have liked to answer that question before I know whether Kyrgios will be number one or win a Grand Slam tournament. He’s not going to win majors right now.”
The perfect combination of all the ingredients brings with it only a few players “If someone has the talent, ambition and attitude like Roger, then you become a legend. For Patrick Mouratoglou, the comparison between Kyrgios and the German number one Alexander Zverev shows that hard work beats pure talent:”Kyrgios doesn’t work hard enough, he’s not fit and he doesn’t always fight in his matches. Zverev may have less talent than Kyrgios, but he always gives 100 percent.”
Whether Patrick Mouratoglou will be at the start of the Australian Open in his role as coach of Serena Williams, has again experienced some slight doubts in the last few days: As the always well-informed journalist Ben Rothenberg has learned, Serena is booked as a guest speaker at a congress. On a day when she was supposed to be working on defending her title in Melbourne.