Watson Fires Coach Hadad

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 30th July 2013

Watson Fires Coach Hadad

epa03759033 Heather Watson of Britain returns to Madison Keys of the US during their first round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 25 June 2013. EPA/KERIM OKTEN |

Britain’s Heather Watson maintains it was probably the toughest decision of her tennis life to sack Maria Sharapova’s former traveling coach Mauricio Hadad after disappointing results at the French Open and Wimbledon.

One of the first things 21 year-old former US Open junior champion Watson did after Wimbledon when she returned to her Florida training base at the IMG Bollettieri Academy in Florida was inform Colombian Hadad, her coach for more than two years ago and a confidante for nearly nine after the pair met at Bradenton, that he was no longer required as coach.

“It’s always going to be a tough decision,” said Watson, who will today play for the first time under the coaching guidance of British veteran Jeremy Bates against American qualifier Alexandra Mueller at the Citi Open in Washington. “At the end of the day it’s my job, it’s a business. I’ve got to do what is right for me and my career.

“With coaches it’s always a big decision. I put a lot of thought into it and I thought it was the best decision for me and my career.

I think to get to the next level I need to change some things in my game, improve some things, add some things, so that’s part of me coming to this decision.”

Hadad, a former staff coach at the Bollettieri Academy, where Channel Islander Watson had been based since the age of 12, was beside Watson as she became the first British woman player to win a WTA title for 24 years at last October’s Japan Open in Osaka, and his coaching enabled her to reach a career high ranking of 39 in February.

More recently she was sidelined for nearly two months after contracting mononucleosis (glandular fever) but first round exits at Roland Garros and Wimbledon prompted a re-think. And Watson also admitted to being influenced by the success of US Open and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray since appointing Ivan Lendl as coach.

Watson said: “Top players make decisions like that. Andy changed his coach to Ivan Lendl and obviously that was a great decision, and I’m thinking that’s what I need to do.”

She also admitted taking counsel for Bollettieri in the past couple of weeks at Bradenton. “I’ve had some time with Nick while I’ve been back at the academy,” said Watson.

“Nick is one of the most honest people I know – everything he says I have complete faith in. He’s told me: ‘Heather, you need to work on this, you need to work on that, it’s not good enough, you’re not going to get far with that but this is good, and you need to add this to your game.’ I think he’s absolutely right and that’s what I want to do now.”

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Alceep says:

July 30, 2013 at 9:26 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Watson Fires Coach Hadad: Britain’s Heather Watson maintains it was probably the toughest decision of… http://t.co/4HBS…