Serena Williams and Patrick Mouratoglou enjoyed real success together as the former won ten Grand Slam titles with the Frenchman by her side.
The American WTA legend won a record 23 Grand Slam titles during her tennis career, dominating the sport for almost 20 years.
Ten of those titles came under the guidance of French coach Mouratoglou, who joined her team in September, 2012.
Williams was never afraid to voice her opinions during her time on tour, once sharing her thoughts on the differences between men’s and women’s tennis.
43-year-old Williams said she would lose 6-0, 6-0 to Andy Murray if they ever played a match, as Mouratoglou now reveals what happened when the 23-time Grand Slam winner trained with ATP stars.
Patrick Mouratoglou says Serena Williams had ‘zero problem’ training with top ATP stars
Mouratoglou recently took to Instagram, reacting to Williams’ past comments on men’s and women’s tennis.
“It’s funny that it’s coming from Serena [Williams] and that she says that men’s and women’s tennis are two different sports,” he said.
“That’s true for mainly one reason: It’s the fact that men are so much faster than women, movement-wise.
“Serena is talking about the power of men, but Serena was hitting with guys you know.
“When I was coaching her, she played many times with Grigor Dimitrov and [Stefanos] Tsitsipas; there was zero problem.
“Hitting from the centre of the court, hitting cross court, no problem, they were impressed by the way.
“When the movement was involved, then it was different and this I agree with her.”
Mouratoglou coached Williams, Dimitrov, and Tsitsipas, leading all three players to success on the ATP and WTA Tours.
The Frenchman then reflected on the potential match with Murray, as he hinted at an idea he has for mixed gender competition.
“We had the idea with Serena to play a match against Andy Murray and then we had also an idea on how to reduce the difference between men and women to make this match extremely competitive,” said Mouratoglou.
“I’m not saying what because I want to do it one day.”
How successful have Patrick Mouratoglou’s other big tennis ‘ideas’ been?
Mouratoglou is keeping his cards close to his chest when discussing his mixed gender tennis competition idea, but there’s plenty of evidence to suggest the 54-year-old knows how to innovate.
In 2020, Mouratoglou helped launch Ultimate Tennis Showdown [UTS], a modern ‘reinvention’ of tennis that has since attracted some of the sport’s biggest names.
| Name | UTS nickname | ATP rank | Career-high ATP rank | Best UTS result |
| Taylor Fritz | The Hotshot | 4 | 4 | F – UTS 4 Nice, UTS LA 2023 |
| Casper Ruud | The Ice Man | 6 | 2 | SF – UTS London Grand Final 2023, UTS Oslo 2024, UTS Guadalajara 2025 |
| Jack Draper | The Power | 7 | 7 | W – UTS London Grand Final 2023 |
| Daniil Medvedev | The Chess master | 8 | 1 | – |
| Andrey Rublev | Rublo | 9 | 5 | W – UTS Frankfurt 2023, UTS Oslo 2024 |
| Stefanos Tsitsipas | El Greco | 10 | 3 | SF – UTS New York 2024 |
| Alex de Minaur | The Demon | 11 | 6 | W – UTS 3 Antwerp 2020, UTS London Grand Final 2024 |
The format is hardly recognizable for traditional fans of the ATP Tour, as players compete in ‘quarters’ rather than ‘sets.’
Australia’s Alex de Minaur won the UTS Grand Final in 2024, beating Holger Rune in the final, 3-0 [13-8] [14-11] [16-10].
12,500 fans are set to watch the next UTS event in Nimes on April 4, as three top ten players head to France.
- Taylor Fritz (ATP #4)
- Casper Ruud (ATP #6)
- Andrey Rublev (ATP #9)
- Alex de Minaur (ATP #11)
- Holger Rune (ATP #12)
- Ben Shelton (ATP #14)
- Ugo Humbert (ATP #20)
- Gael Monfils (ATP #46)
It’s fair to say Mouratoglou’s UTS has been successful since its launch five years ago, as many will no doubt be interested to see what his ideas for a mixed gender competition look like.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
