With 11 titles to her name in 2013, including two Grand Slam event titles and the WTA Championships, it is stating the blindingly obvious to say Serena Williams is by far the most dominant force in women’s tennis. But the threat from within the Williams camp is that she will be even more supreme next year.
Coach Patrick Mouratoglou has been a massive influence in Serena winning 78 of her 82 singles matches this year. But as Serena vowed to say goodbye to her long term-friend Mr. Wilson (her racket) for a few weeks, Frenchman Mouratoglou added: “We’ve spoken about 2014 already with goals to do better than this year because I think it is possible.
“If we keep this mentality I don’t see any reason why she would slow down.”
Mouratoglou was speaking in the aftermath of Williams’ victory at the TEB BNP Paribas sponsored WTA Championships in Istanbul where she confronted acute fatigue in the concluding weekend as well as opponents Jelena Jankovic and Li Na. In doing so, Williams became the first woman to win more than $10m prize money in a single season.
“She loves playing tennis, she loves winning, she wants to stay number one, she wants to keep on winning – and she wants to be better,” added Mouratoglou.
The Frenchman has now been at her side since she lost in the first round of the 2012 French Open and the intensity she has shown ever since has been sensational.
“She has 100% of her physical abilities today, which counts for a lot,” said Mouratoglou. “Maybe that’s one of the reasons why Roger Federer hasn’t been able to play his best tennis this year. He has physical issues, but Serena doesn’t. She’s at the top physically.
“As I said to her when we started working together, we have to make sure you don’t get injured: that is the first goal. So we did a lot of work on her body.
“The team worked with her to help her get stronger because everybody has weaknesses in his or her body. Her fitness is at the top, along with her will and dedication.”
Topics: 10sballs, Jelena Jankovic, Li Na, Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Wta