WTA: Seles speaks out against On-Court Coaching

The discussion about On-Court-Coaching on the WTA-Tour continues to make waves. Monica Seles has now taken the floor – and has spoken out against fundamental reform.

On the WTA tour, coaching is already permitted outside the four majors. The former world number one Monica Seles doesn’t want to allow on-court coaching at Grand Slam tournaments in the future. “As a professional player at the highest level, you should be able to think for yourself,” Seles told Tennis World USA.

The nine-time Grand Slam winner is therefore against renewing the existing system. After the US Open Final between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, a discussion about coaching was sparked off. Williams coach Patrick Mouratoglou, among others, had spoken out in favour of reform.

Via Twitter, the Frenchman demanded a reversal of the previous practice and wished to see the coaching released. Everybody would do it anyway and by adapting the rules you could make the game even more attractive for the spectators. There are two sides: the traditionalists and those who want to lead tennis into the modern age.

Seles might be one of the first mentioned: “Even my father said to me before the matches: Go to the court and move. I don’t like on-court coaching.”

At least on the WTA tour the left-handed woman will have to live with the coaching. WTA boss Steve Simon commented on the emerging debate during the finals in Singapore: “Coaching is here to stay with the WTA”. Only the handling could change something in the future.