PARIS — It was four years ago this week that Serena Williams made her way to well-known French coach Patrick Mouratoglou’s academy outside of Paris after crashing out of the French Open in the first round, her first and only opening-round exit from a major.
Williams was disappointed and frustrated with her game and asked Mouratoglou if she could hit on his courts and if he would observe — help her a little bit, even.
Now after eight Grand Slam tournament championships, 29 overall titles and 172 weeks at No. 1, Williams and Mouratoglou are perhaps the most formidable team in tennis – men’s or women’s.
“My point is not the game, my point is the results,” Mouratoglou said when he was asked what has improved the most in Serena’s game since that week in 2012.
“If she would play worse than before but win more, then I would be fine with that,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “I don’t think we should focus on what she does better on court or not – though I think she’s doing a lot of things better. I’m here for results. I’m paid for results.”
Saturday Williams had one of those “results:” Backed against a wall and the French crowd willing on compatriot Kristina Mladenovic, Williams converted her fifth match point in a tense second-set tiebreak, winning 6-4, 7-6(10). In 16 majors with Mouratoglou, Williams has lost before the second week just twice.
“They are all humans and sometimes they don’t think right, and when they don’t think right they don’t act right … She was in danger,” explained Mouratoglou of the match. “But the good thing is, being in danger and being really far from her best, she could find a way to win. It woke her up.”
He added: “When it happens and you win, it’s great. It’s like a kick in the butt. Everybody sometimes needs a kick in the butt.”
In September, Mouratoglou will debut a new academy, a sweeping campus in the south of France where Williams and men’s No. 1 Novak Djokovic often train.
“We are opening the biggest academy in Europe, the most modern,” Mouratolgou said. “I think it’s one of the most exciting projects in tennis in the last years. What we are building is unique. With the two No. 1s in the world as a part of it, I think it’s going to be incredible.”
One-hundred and fifty juniors live and train there full time, and the academy is also a base for touring pros David Goffin, Jeremy Chardy and Alizé Cornet among others. Mouratoglou said the new facility will “change the face of tennis for the next years,” a personal goal of his.
Long a respected coach before he linked up with Williams, Mouratoglou will face off in the coaches’ corner on Monday against Justine Henin, a former Williams foe. Elina Svitolina, Williams’ fourth round opponent, has brought on Henin as an adviser.
Mouratoglou remembers the Belgian – who won here four times and was 6-8 against Williams in her career – as “a champion.”
“She had a game with a lot of technical options,” he said of Henin. “She had an all-around game, one that not very many women have. That’s what made her so difficult to defeat: You never knew what she was going to do.”
Saturday, watching from his usual spot inside Court Philippe Chatrier, Mouratoglou said Williams wasn’t being aggressive enough, letting Mladenovic, the world No. 30, dictate play, often applying an effective drop shot strategy.
“I think she was just unable to apply the tactics that she should,” Mouratoglou said. “She was not in control and [Mladenovic] could be in control of the rallies, which is not normal for Serena. Nobody is in control of the rally if Serena is Serena. And definitely not Mladenovic, believe me.”
“Everybody makes mistakes. The capacity to win those matches is the difference between champions and other people. She won and she realized what she did wrong, so she’ll be that much better.”
When a rain delay forced Williams and Mladenovic off the court for nearly three hours, Mouratoglou said he gave his charge a 10-minute pep talk that didn’t quite find its mark. He was off his game, he admitted, trying to get a point across to Williams but struggling to find his way to make it.
“I wasn’t happy with myself. I spoke too long,” he said flatly. “My position was right, but I spoke for too long. I have to be more precise. And really, it’s not about me.”
For the next week it’s about Williams. She’s once again on the cusp of greatness, four match wins from equaling Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 major titles. She came close at the U.S. Open (semifinals) and Australian Open (finals) in the last nine months.
Nothing at this point is easy for a great playing against greatness – and history.
For Mouratoglou it’s a win-and-move-on strategy. Lick your wounds, look at what happened, then lay out your chips for the next one. Methodical.
“She has to forget what happened, but she also has to remember why she did wrong and what she has to do from now to do right,” he said. “It’s the past. She won it. Next one. What’s the mindset for the next one? If she has a different mindset, it’s one hundred times better. That’s what we want… Because we want to win the tournament.”
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