Stan Wawrinka and Serena Williams hogged the limelight in Paris last weekend when they managed to win the Coupe des Mousquetaires and Coupe Suzanne Lenglen respectively.
Whilst Williams was expected to win her third title in the French Capital, Wawrinka’s triumph over overwhelming favourite world number one Novak Djokovic was more of a shock to the tennis fraternity. Wawrinka defied the odds to beat Djokovic in four sets at Roland Garros and claimed a second Grand Slam title to add to the Australian Open and Davis Cup which he won last year.
Both Williams and Wawrinka gave credit to men who have stood beside them – French Patrick Mouratoglou and Swede Magnus Norman respectively. Both men have inspired their students to capture the title in Paris and rule supreme on the red dirt.
Mouratoglou – Masterstroke for Serena
Three years back Serena Williams suffered her first ever opening round of a Grand Slam tournament at the French Open against Virginie Razzano of France, she was short on confidence and had not won a Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2010.
This is when she decided to practice at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, run by Patrick Mouratoglou, and get back to the form that saw her win 13 majors. She hired the coach and it turned out to be a stroke of genius as the American has since gone on to win seven Grand Slams in the last 12 majors she has entered taking her overall tally to 20.
Since then, Mouratoglou has steered Williams to her fifth Wimbledon title, an Olympic Gold Medal, her fourth, fifth, and sixth US Open titles, her second and third French Open titles, three consecutive year-end championships titles, her sixth Australian Open title and lifted her back to world number one in the WTA rankings.
Williams has been ranked first since the 18th of February 2013 – 121 weeks and counting and is oldest woman in the open era to hold the ranking. Now with 20 majors in under her belt, Williams’ quest for Steffi Graf’s open-era record of 22 continue, and at this ferocious pace she could have that number come September at this year’s US Open.
Williams, who fought through flu to win her third French Open title, has arguably been the best player in the world for the past decade and half. However, it’s her partnership with Mouratoglou that has hustled her ascension towards being an all-time great.
Williams, who is known for her never-say-die attitude, always manages to dig herself out of trouble. She played five three-setters in Paris and managed to stave off all her opponents. This attribute in Williams can be acknowledged to her coach who has galvanised her into being more consistent and mentally stronger.
She has won 67 career titles and won almost 40 percent of them in the last three seasons with Mouratoglou compiling a staggering 193-14 (93 percent) win-loss ratio in the process since hiring the Frenchman. He seems to have stimulated Williams into all-time great and made her realise her true potential.
The win in Paris against the Czech Lucie Safarova made her only the third person in history to win each major at least three times, joining Margaret Court and Graf. She’s the first player to win three straight majors since she did it herself during 2002-03, and she is the first player to win the Australian-French Open double since Jennifer Capriati did it in 2001.
All eyes will be on Wimbledon next month when Williams will try to hold all four slams at the same time again. Should she win in London next month, she would go to New York chasing Graf’s record and try to become the fourth woman to win the calendar Grand Slam.
Williams’ partnership with Mouratoglou could make her the most successful tennis player of all time. Margaret Court’s record of 24 titles looks to be in serious jeopardy.
Norman – Wawrinka’s key to triumph
Before 2013, Stan Wawrinka was always recognised as Federer’s Davis Cup team-mate, gold medal winner with Roger Federer at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Swiss number two.
Although enormously talented, he was clumsy at the same time. Some said that he lacked Federer’s grace and poise. Then he hired former world number two Magnus Norman and the rest is history.
Magnus Norman was a former French Open finalist losing to Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten in the 2000 finals. Norman was known for his exploits with Robin Soderling, who managed to beat Rafael Nadal in the famous four-round encounter in Roland Garros.
Soderling managed to reach back-to-back French Open finals in 2009 and 2010 under Norman. Soderling also reached a career-high world ranking at fourth before suffering injuries and glandular fever that have troubled his career ever since.
In 2013, Wawrinka began working with Magnus Norman. The Swede made Stan mentally stronger apart and guided him to his first major semi-final at the 2013 US Open after toiling through 34 majors without making the last four.
At the 2013 Australian Open, he made it to the fourth round before losing a grueling five-set thriller against Novak Djokovic which lasted just over five hours. This match started the rise of Wawrinka towards major glory.
Wawrinka’s partnership with Norman has been recognised via his performance in significant matches, and was evident in his victories over Andy Murray at the 2013 US Open, and Novak Djokovic at the 2014 Australian Open, as well as improving his consistency in big matches.
Wawrinka’s mental game has also been seen to improve over time, culminating in his win over first seed Rafael Nadal at the 2014 Australian Open Final, in which Wawrinka survived a fight back from Nadal to clinch the title.
He also survived a fight back from number one seed Novak Djokovic at the 2015 French Open final last Sunday, being down one break of serve in the fourth set, before breaking Djokovic’s service twice to clinch the title.
Norman has gone on to change Wawrinka’s attitude towards tennis and this has aided him in reaching a career high ranking of number three in the world.
Wawrinka revealed that a pep talk from Norman helped him to get hold of the pre-match jitters and inspired him to glory in the French Open final against Novak Djokovic.
Norman has had a phenomenal record with Warwinka which persuaded another Swedish tennis great Mats Wilander to regard him as the best coach in the world. Norman has transformed his game and perhaps got him out of Federer’s shadow for the best part of his professional career.
Wawrinka has still been under-performing in smaller events on a regular basis and is not consistent as the ‘big four’. Amid personal disturbances and a broken marriage, Wawrinka struggled to find form before arriving in Paris.
However, with Norman around, Wawrinka’s game went notches up given the turmoil of his life and form. With a clean and straightforward game along with a thinker like Norman, Wawrinka could possibly be part of a ‘big five’ and dominate the game for a longer period.
Norman’s main focus now will be to ensure Wawrinka is more consistent at the Masters level and avoid any possibly of a dip in form.
Wawrinka’s backhand is a weapon of mass destruction and on his given day, he could demolish the top players by replicating the lights-out game he produced against Djokovic on Sunday.
Wawrinka’s victory was more fruitful for Norman as he had come close to lifting the title in Paris on three separate occasions, and come next month, we could perhaps see another chapter of the Norman-Wawrinka affiliation on the grass courts of Wimbledon.
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