Gilles Simon Breaks With Coach Tulasne

Written by: Staff on 1st October 2012

Gilles Simon Breaks With Coach Tulasne

epa03415707 Richard Gasquet of France returns the ball to his compatriot Gilles Simon during their Men's Singles final match at the Thailand Open tennis tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, 30 September 2012. Gasquet won 6-2 and 6-1. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT |

The roundabout of French players and the various players who guide them around the ATP World Tour took another surprising twist as the nation’s third ranked player Gilles Simon parted the ways with his coach of more than five and a half years Thierry Tulasne.

Simon’s split with Tulasne was announced on the official website of the French tennis federation (FFT) and came soon after the 27 year-old player lost out to countryman Richard Gasquet in the final of the Thailand Open in Bangkok.

“Gilles Simon and Thierry Tulasne, his coach, have decided by common accord to put an end to their collaboration,” said the statement. “The Nice man … wishes to fly with his own wings.”

Under the tutelage of 49 year-old Tulasne in a professional partnership that began in February 2007, Simon’s career peaked with a world ranking of no.6 in January 2009 and produced ten ATP tour titles; the most recent coming in April this year on the Romanian clay of the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest.

A former top ten performer during his playing career with five ATP World Tour titles to his name, Tulasne had previously coached French players Sebastien Grosjean and Paul-Henri Mathieu. For the time being, Simon intends to play without a permanent coach although the FFT maintains it is ready to help the Nice-born and Neuchatel-based player ‘put in place his new sporting project’.

Gasquet needed only 68 minutes to beat a clearly out of sorts Simon 6-2, 6-1, who was struggling with an injured knee, at the Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani. He became the third Frenchman to win in Bangkok since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s victory in 2008.

“Gilles is French player and a friend of mine. It’s a bit strange. I have won tough matches this week. It’s good for me because I had to come back to win twice in a week,” Gasquet said. “It’s my seventh title. I’m really happy.”

Simon has never previously beaten Gasquet and maintained the knee injury affected him during throughout the game.

“It happened right before the match,” he said. “It was OK this morning. But when I started warming up before the match, I started to feel something there.

“It was harder to push for my correct play every time. When you have so many injuries, it’s difficult because you just don’t know. You have to play with it. You don’t know if it’s going to be worse if you push.”

Topics: ATP World Tour 2012, French Tennis Federation, French tennis news, Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet, Thailand Oopen 2012, Thierry Tulasne