Simona Halep will work with Patrick Mouratoglou on a full-time basis after the French coach received the blessing of Serena Williams to work with someone else “at least short-term”.
“Excited for a new chapter,” Halep wrote on social media, alongside a picture of her on court with the 51-year-old. “Let’s get to work.”
It is the second coaching appointment Halep has made since parting ways with Darren Cahill, her coach of six years, last September. The 30-year-old made a swift double appointment following Cahill’s departure, turning to Romanian compatriots Adrian Marcu and Daniel Dobre – both of whom she had worked with before – only to dispense with their services following her fourth-round defeat to Alizé Cornet at the Australian Open.
Halep subsequently travelled to Dubai without a coach, reaching the semi-finals, before training at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy on the French Riviera for a week. It was there that the former French Open and Wimbledon champion first broached the subject of working with Mouratoglou on a full-time basis.
“Simona came to the Mouratoglou Academy before Indian Wells for a training block. I swung by at a few of her practices, watched her train,” said Mouratoglou, who has worked with Williams for the past decade, guiding her to 10 grand slam titles, an Olympic gold medal and three successive year-end No 1 finishes.
“At the end of the week, she asked me if I was available to coach her. I have the highest respect for her, but it was out of the question at the time.”
Halep was accompanied by Morgan Bourbon, a Mouratoglou Academy coach, as she went on to reach the last four at Indian Wells.
Despite turning down Halep, however, Mouratoglou was eager to work again. Williams, 40, has not played since a leg injury forced her to retire from her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich at Wimbledon last summer, and he was eager to return to the fray.
Having consulted the American, whose ranking has plummeted to 240 in the face of her prolonged inactivity, it became clear that a coaching arrangement might be possible after all.
“A few weeks later, I had a conversation with Serena, and the door opened for me, at least short term, to work with someone else,” Mouratoglou wrote on social media.
“In the last eight months, I realized how much I missed coaching. It is the passion of my life, and I still feel like I have so much to give.”
Williams, perhaps hoping to nip speculation about her future in the bud, indicated in a video shared on Instagram that she plans to compete at Wimbledon this summer.
“I’m here with [Green Bay Packers quarterback] Aaron Rodgers and we’ve been talking about my comeback and he’s been hyping me up and getting me ready for Wimbledon,” said Williams, whose haul of 23 majors is one short of the all-time record held by Margaret Court.
Halep, who beat Williams in the Wimbledon final three years ago, withdrew from last month’s Miami Open with a torn thigh muscle, but has targeted a return in time for the clay-court season.