'No doubt about it': Serena Williams' former coach names player who will challenge Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek for number one spot

Ex-coach of the former world number one Serena Williams, Rick Macci, has named the player to challenge the dominance of Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek in women's tennis. Both players have remained the main force in women's tennis over the last three years and won six and four Grand Slam titles, respectively.

The only other player to win multiple Grand Slam titles during that time is America's Coco Gauff. Macci, however, has named Russia’s young tennis sensation Mirra Andreeva as the ideal candidate to challenge the supremacy of Sabalenka, Swiatek and Gauff in the near future. The 18-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players in the world, but has found it hard to deliver success consistently on the biggest stage in the second half of the season this year.

The 70-year-old, while speaking in an interview with Tennis 365, where he was asked about which player he thinks is capable of challenging the top-three players in women’s tennis, Sabalenka, Swiatek and Gauff. In response to that, Macci was quick to name Andreeva as the likeliest candidate to do that in the near future. Macci was of the opinion that the primary reason for that to happen is that Andreeva is mentally stronger than most players are at her age. Macci also highlighted that Andreeva’s ability to change the ‘direction of the ball’ early in the point makes her an even tougher candidate to face on the tennis court.

“No doubt about it, the new sheriff in town: Mirra Andreeva. She’s one of the best young prospects I’ve seen in a long time,” said Macci. “And the reason why: mentally, she is cut from a different cloth, she’s a brutal, brutal competitor. She’s more mature now. But what she does a little bit different, she changes direction of the ball very early in the point. And we all know there’s a fine line between courage and stupidity. At the end of the day, this is what she does and she gets you out of your comfort zone. So that’s number one and she does that with conviction and with confidence. “And people gotta take a step back and understand, she’s only 18 and she’s five in the world. So I see greatness, and the thing about her game, once she gets into that number one category — one, two [in the rankings] — she’s not going anywhere, because she has too much competitiveness.”

Macci also highlighted another quality of Andreeva, which sets her apart from the rest. Macci stated that Andreeva is a ‘very good mover’ and suggested the Russian young tennis sensation has all the qualities to win more than 10 Grand Slams.

One for the future

“She’s actually a very good mover,” said Macci. “Even though it was a little shaky on the clay and it took her a while to get going on the grass – I’m not worried about that. And let’s face it, most of the tournaments are on hard-court. But Mirra Andreeva’s the real deal and I think her future is as bright as anybody. A double digit Grand Slam winner.”

Macci further went on to make another bold prediction that Andreeva will become a world number one in the future. Macci stated that Andreeva’s ability to move so well on the hard court makes her an exceptional talent, and she is someone who can take the next step to become one of the very best in the world in no time.

“I called this a couple of years ago, I knew where this was going,” said Macci. “She (Andreeva) is gonna be number one. I think on hard courts, her movement is 20 to 25% better than on clay. I think she gets in and out of the corners better on the hard-court, and she uses the forehand slice. And I know a lot of coaches don’t like the kids or people to do that, but listen, the game is very different than even six years ago, 10 years ago. I counted one match against Sabalenka, she did it over 30 times when she was out wide to live another day. She resets the point, but what she does different, she’s resetting the point low. She’s hitting the ball back with underspin. When you keep it out of the strike zone… so here’s Andreeva, that’s a part of her toolbox, that’s a part of her playbook, she chips the ball and keeps it in play where a lot of people reset it with topspin — and I’m not saying that’s wrong — but the people can step up and drive it from the shoulder. So when you keep it low, she lives another day. So that’s one piece that I love about her game. And she’ll throw in the drop shot, a lob and she’ll throw in the backhand slice and she’s not afraid to volley and take the ball out of the air.”