For a teenager who gave up his own playing career because he could not persuade his parents to allow him time off his studies, Patrick Mouratoglou has not done badly. Not only does the 44-year-old Frenchman run one of the world's most successful tennis academies, but he has also been the guiding hand as Serena Williams has reinforced her claim as the greatest female player in history.
The next fortnight presents an opportunity for Mouratoglou and Williams to crown their collaboration over the past three years with their greatest achievement yet. Having completed her second so-called “Serena Slam” - holding all four of the sport's major titles without winning them in the same calendar year - at Wimbledon last month, the 33-year-old American can become only the fourth woman in history to win a “pure” Grand Slam by adding the US Open to the Australian, French and Wimbledon trophies she has already won this year.
If it was Richard Williams who turned his daughters Venus and Serena into champions, it has been under Mouratoglou's watch that the younger of the two sisters has become a serial winner. Having secured her first Grand Slam title here in 1999, Williams had won 13 in as many years when she first teamed up with Mouratoglou. Since then she has added eight more, taking her career tally to 21, one short of Steffi Graf's Open era record and three shy of Margaret Court's all-time mark. Of the total of 69 singles titles that Williams has won, 28 have come since she started working with Mouratoglou.
They joined forces after Williams suffered perhaps the most remarkable defeat of her career when she lost in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament for the only time, to Virginie Razzano, the world No 111, at the 2012 French Open.
“I didn't want to go home afterwards,” Williams recalled. “I needed a place to train in Paris and I'd known Patrick a little bit before, so I asked him if I could train at his academy. I was there strictly to train. I wasn't looking for a coach. I was just looking for a tennis court.”
Mouratoglou said: “She just wanted to practise. She said, 'I want to win Wimbledon. I want to start now'.”
Within little more than a month Williams had won her fifth Wimbledon title. When she added the US Open it was clear the partnership was reaping huge rewards. Today their mutual respect is evident. “Patrick has helped me a lot, to change different elements in my game, ameliorate them, and also just be overall a better competitor on every single surface and every single match that I play,” Williams said.
Mouratoglou, who has a reputation as a hard taskmaster, was soon in awe of Williams' professionalism. “She still wanted to make progress,” he said. “When you see other players who haven't won a Grand Slam and think they know everything, it's really impressive.
“This is probably the difference between a real champion and other players,” he added.
Williams' dedication is matched by that of Mouratoglou, who started his tennis career comparatively late. He worked for six years in his father's renewable-energy business before throwing himself into coaching at the age of 27.
Bob Brett, the Australian coach who had risen to prominence working with Boris Becker, went into partnership with Mouratoglou and lent his name to their academy. They were soon working with a host of talented young players, including Marcos Baghdatis, Ivo Karlovic and Mario Ancic. Brett left after six years, but the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy went from strength to strength, with the Frenchman's reputation enhanced as Baghdatis reached the Australian Open final.
In the early days he was reluctant to tamper with Williams' technique, saying her parents had developed her near-perfect game and his job was simply to “show her how to use the key to the machine”. Last winter, however, he worked on her serve, which had been regarded as the best in the history of women's tennis.
“We made adjustments for it to be more efficient in terms of rhythm,” he said. “It makes a huge difference because her motion is one of the best motions I have ever seen in the women's game - maybe the best. We have to give credit to her father, who in a way created that spirit that she has that is something incredible.”
Williams' never-say-die attitude was demonstrated when she battled against illness to win this year's French Open. “The part you can explain is that she's been raised like that,” Mouratoglou said. “It's probably the education that she received from her family, her parents, and the fact that she was born with nothing and needed to fight through life.
“But this education met her natural character and she's someone who just refuses to lose. When those two things meet together it creates someone who is totally different. I've never seen a woman player like her in my life.” – The Independent on Sunday