RISING TENNIS STAR BORNA CORIC HIRES SWEDE SLAM WINNER TOMAS JOHANSSON AS HIS COACH

Written by: Staff on 30th April 2015

RISING TENNIS STAR BORNA CORIC HIRES SWEDE SLAM WINNER TOMAS JOHANSSON AS HIS COACH

epa04727573 Borna Coric of Croatia reacts during his second round match against Rui Machado of Portugal at the Millennium Estoril Open in Estoril, Portugal, 30 April 2015. EPA/TIAGO PETINGA |

Borna Coric, the 18 year old Croatian who is the youngest player in the world’s top 100, has a new coach in the shape of former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson.

Coric, who this week’s stands in 55th place on the Emirates ATP World Tour rankings and seems certain to go much higher, split from previous coach Zeljko Krajan after the Croatian Davis Cup captain maintained an ongoing domestic situation required him to take time off from traveling.

Borna Coric of Croatia serves a ball to Rui Machado of Portugal during their second round match at the Millennium Estoril Open in Estoril, Portugal, 30 April 2015. EPA/TIAGO PETINGA

The new partnership will link up together in Nice, the week before the French Open in Roland Garros. “Thomas has been around on the ATP Tour for many years and has the experience and knowledge to help me achieve my goals,” said Coric.

It is understood that Coric’s management company StarWing Sports used the teenager’s long-time mentor Goran Ivanisevic as a sounding board in the search to replace Krajan who had been on board since the end of last year in succession to Englishman Ryan Jones.

Former Spanish Davis Cup captain Alex Corretja was another experienced name seriously considered but StarWing’s experiences with Magnus Norman’s work alongside former Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka caused them to favor another Swede.

Johansson’s previous coaching experience saw a short lived liaison with Caroline Wozniacki before her father Piotr again assumed complete control. The 40 year-old Swede was once ranked as high as No. 7 on the ATP World Tour and retired as a player in June 2009 after a 16 year career.

He has also served as tournament director of the Stockholm Open ATP tournament and is a business partner of Jonas Bjorkman who has just become co-coach to world no.3 Andy Murray.

Borna Coric of Croatia returns a ball to Rui Machado of Portugal during their second round match at the Millennium Estoril Open in Estoril, Portugal, 30 April 2015. EPA/TIAGO PETINGA

“Borna has been one of the leaders of the new generation we all have been waiting for in the men’s tennis,” Johansson said. “His energy and tennis capabilities are impeccable and sometimes I forget he is only 18 years old. We will work on all aspects of his game and he will hopefully continue improving in the years to follow.”

Story via Bob Larson tennis news

Topics: Atp, Borna Coric, Sports, Tennis News, Tomas Johansson

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10sBalls_com says:

April 30, 2015 at 12:58 pm

RISING #TENNIS STAR @borna_coric HIRES SWEDE SLAM WINNER TOMAS JOHANSSON (@tompatennis) AS HIS #COACH- http://t.co/vLCHURvjd4 #atp #Coric