Serena Williams is one of the most iconic and greatest players in tennis history.
However, her initial beginnings were humble ones, learning to play alongside her sister, Venus, who too went on to achieve immortality.
This was a family blessed with sporting greatness, but as the 2021 film ‘King Richard’ portrayed, it was not all god-given talent.
They had to work, with one renowned former coach at the forefront of their youth development.
Rick Macci has already predicted this year’s Roland Garros winner, and given his history with the Williams sisters, his word is often well-respected.
That mantle would eventually transfer onto Patrick Mouratoglou, who is now one of the sport’s most infamous coaches.
Patrick Mouratoglou reacts to Serena Williams controversy
Speaking on Hana Kuma’s Good Trouble, the Frenchman has now opened up on his ten-year relationship with the former world number one, which resulted in an astounding ten Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal.
However, he did reveal one moment during the 2018 US Open which he regarded as one of the toughest moments of his career, where both he and Williams were embroiled in controversy.
Facing Naomi Osaka in the final at Flushing Meadows, the 20-year-old Japanese superstar emerged as the unlikely victor and cemented her place in tennis history.
But the match was marred by the American’s outburst mid-way through, where she accused the umpire of being a ‘thief’.
A subsequent game penalty resulted in a smashed racquet, and now, chatting with Nick Kyrgios, Mouratoglou has reflected on that day.
He noted: ‘I think it’s very important not to give too much attention to people who criticise you because there will always be anyway.
‘It’s important to put it in balance with people that love you, and this is something I said to Serena when this drama happened at the US Open.
‘A lot of people said bad things on social media, and I said to her ‘Listen, how many people? Are we talking about one thousand people? And you have dozens of millions of people who support you,’ so if you put too much attention on what people say and think, you just do nothing.’
Patrick Mourataglou has coached some tennis greats
Whilst Williams is unsurprisingly at the apex of Mouratoglou’s coaching roster, he has actually remained a hugely relevant figure for over two decades now, starting in 1999.
He would admit in this same podcast that Marcos Baghdatis put him on the map, but going on to enjoy spells with Laura Robson, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Grigor Dimitrov, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Simona Halep further outlined his credentials.
Since settling with Holger Rune, reigniting their previous relationship, he has a real challenge on his hands to mould the 21-year-old into a real Grand Slam great.
And with John McEnroe having been left frustrated with Rune’s lack of progress, the toughness of this task is further emphasised.
Fortunately, he has a rich history of turning things around.
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