Patrick Mouratoglou reveals what he said to Serena Williams to gain her respect

"Naturally, your instinct is to protect yourself. Why take risks when you already have a great job?" Mouratoglou said. "Imagine — I’m coaching Serena Williams. She already had 13 Grand Slams when we started. She’d been world number one. Any coach would dream of that position. Why would I risk it? But she provoked me. Her father provoked me. And I thought: if I let them step on me, I won’t be respected. I won’t succeed. If it has to stop, it has to stop — but I won’t let people treat me in a way I don’t accept. They weren’t trying to harm me; they were testing me. Testing my character. I didn’t realise that at the time, but it was true.

"At the very start, I had to confront her. First practice at Wimbledon, I confronted her. Then her father confronted me in front of everyone, shouting at me. I hit back hard — in a very correct way — and said, 'If you don’t respect me, I won’t respect you. You want me to respect you? Respect me first. And you’re shouting at me about why Serena’s playing badly. I’ve been coaching her for one week. You’ve coached her for 30 years. Maybe I should ask you.'

"He didn’t know what to answer. People thought I was crazy, but I gained his respect — and then Serena’s respect. Six months later she told me: 'When you did that, you got all my respect, because 99% of people wouldn’t dare.' That’s why I say: if you’re too scared to lose your job, you won’t do what’s necessary to make huge changes. Coaching takes courage."

One regret with Osaka

The Frenchman had stints with Simona Halep and Holger Rune, before ending up with four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka in 2024. The relationship did not last too long, with the pair splitting after 10 months. The Japanese star has since reached a Masters 1000 final, and the US Open semi-final, with her former coach regretting on what he said to her.

"With Naomi Osaka, it wasn’t about not saying something — I always say what I think — it was about not finding the right solution in time," he said. "She started strong but kept getting injured. We fixed that. Then her practice level was amazing, but she didn’t compete well. I told her, 'You can lose, but you cannot lose this way — you have to fight.'

"She felt I was disappointed in her. That put extra pressure. Looking back, I should have made her feel that I cared only about her development, not her results. With Simona Halep later, I realised it — she told me openly she felt the weight of Serena’s legacy, and we worked through it. I didn’t manage to do that with Naomi in time."

Future coaching ambitions

He also touched on Carlos Alcaraz, who has taken the tennis world by storm with a string of incredible performances and titles, recently winning his second US Open title. Mouratoglou reminisced on his first sighting of the young Spaniard, seeing a resemblance to Djokovic.

"I saw him at 18 in Madrid, at an event with the mayor. He walked up, put his arm on the mayor’s shoulder, spoke with total confidence. It was like he was the mayor, not the other way around. He reminded me of Djokovic at 18 or 19. He takes the space. You see it now in finals — he owns the stage."

When asked if he would want to coach a player like Alcaraz, he said: "Of course. It’s like asking a football coach if he’d prefer to coach Real Madrid or a second-division team. You want to win big trophies. You can improve every player, help them reach their potential — but not everyone can be Serena. There’s only one Serena. So yes, when you get the chance, you want to work with players who can be different, who can win the biggest tournaments."