Patrick Mouratoglou Believes There Is A Silver Lining To US Open Controversy - UBITENNIS
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Patrick Mouratoglou Believes There Is A Silver Lining To US Open Controversy

The 48-year-old has reiterated his plead for on court coaching to be allowed at all major events.

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French coach Patrick Mouratoglou has once again reiterated calls for on court coaching to be allowed at all tournaments as he draws positives from his US Open controversy earlier in the year.

 

Mouratoglou, who is the coach of 23-time grand slam champion Serena Williams, was accused of coaching from the stands during the US Open final. An offence that is currently forbidden in the main draws of all grand slam tournaments. Umpire Carlos Ramos slammed Williams with a warning for coaching that triggered a dramatic clash between the two. The former world No.1 insisted that she was not receiving coaching, before later being punished by Ramos for Racket and verbal abuse. Williams ended up with a game penalty and was later fined $17,000 by officials.

“One very good thing has happened as a consequence of Serena Williams’ experience in the US Open final: people throughout tennis are again discussing the whole issue of on-court coaching. It is a subject which has actually been on the agenda for all the sport’s governing bodies for five years now.” Mouratoglou wrote in an editorial for Tennis Head Magazine.

At first Williams’ mentor admitted that he did break the rules at the US Open before the former world No.1 dismissed those comments.

Coaching is currently only allowed on the WTA Tour and has been since 2008. Critics argue that tennis is an individual sport and the players should work out for themselves how to win matches instead of rely on others. On the other hand, Mouratoglou has alleged that many on the tour break the rules regarding on-court coaching, but are rarely punished.

“It is also a very basic truth that the vast majority of tennis coaches are actually coaching on court, despite the rules. Occasionally the players are punished for it, but for the most part they are not.” He said.
“Those who continue to oppose on-court coaching are either watching matches on TV, in which case they can’t see everything that is happening on court, or they are ignoring the evidence of their own eyes.”

Continuing will his argument, the 48-year-old went on to say that players should only be allowed to communicate with their mentor during matches in English. Claiming that English is the ‘international language of tennis.’ Although it is argued that this would leave some players at a disadvantage.

“If the coach and player are communicating in Slovakian or Arabic or Mandarin, most people – including the commentators – aren’t going to understand what is being said.” He explained
“English is the international language of tennis. I know there are some coaches, even at a high level, who do not speak very good English, but that is not right. We are professional coaches. We travel on the tour all year and we’re supposed to speak English.”

As to what the future holds, Mouratoglou said on court coaching ‘is clearly going to happen’ at all tournaments. Whether or not that prediction comes true remains to be seen.

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Jannik Sinner beats Danil Medvedev in the China Open final to clinch the ninth title of his career

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Jannik Sinner beat Danil Medvedev 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-2) after 2 hours and 1 minute earning the first match win of his career against his Russian rival in his seventh attempt. 

 

Sinner has won the ninth title of his career and the third of the 2023 season following his triumphs Montpellier and his first ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto. The Italian player claimed the second ATP 500 title after Washington following his two wins over top 3 players Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal and Danil Medvedev in the final. 

Sinner has moved to number 4 in the ATP Live Ranking becoming the second Italian player to reach the top 5 after Adriano Panatta, who won the Internazionali d’Italia in Rome and Roland Garros in 1976 reaching a career high of world number 4. Sinner is aiming to qualify for the NITTO ATP Finals in Turin for the first time after playing as alternate in 2021.

Both players served well in the first four games of the opening set. Sinner saved a break point in the fifth game and held serve with a forehand. Medvedev fended off two break points in the eighth game. Sinner earned two mini-breaks to open up a 3-0 lead in the tie-break and hit two winners on serve to race out to 5-0. Medvedev pulled one of the mini-breaks back but Sinner closed out the first set 7-2 on his second set point. 

Medvedev saved three break points (the third with a forehand winner) in the third game of the second set to hold serve at deuce for 2-1. Sinner held serve to 30 at 3-4 and won the 10th game on serve at love to prolong the match. 

Sinner opened up a 3-0 lead with an early mini-break at the start of the second tie-break and forged to 5-2 with a service winner. Sinner earned four match points with a forehand and converted his first chance with a forehand winner to secure his 49th match of the season.  

“Danil, thanks for letting me at least one match. We have had some very tough battles, especially this year. Thanks for making me a much better player. I have been training a lot to beat you. My team are working a lot. Thank you very much and it is special this moment with you”, said Sinner during the award ceremony. 

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Iga Swiatek cruises past Magda Linette to reach the quarter final at the China Open in Beijing

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Iga Swiatek cruised past this year’s Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette 6-1 6-1 to reach the quarter final at the China Open in Beijing. Swiatek has won her 60th match in 2023. 

 

Swiatek set up a match against Caroline Garcia or Anhelina Kalinina. 

Swiatek did not face any break points and dropped just eight points on her serve and hit 16 winners to Linette’s three. She broke twice in the first set and three times in the second set. 

Swiatek has won her 18th match this year for the loss of three or fewer games. 

Swiatek has improved to 3-1 in her head-to-head matches against her compatriots. She lost her only match via retirement against Joanna Zawadswa in the first round of the Warsaw ITF W25 tournament in 2018. 

Swiatek has reached her 14th quarter final in 2023 and her ninth at WTA 1000 level. The Polish player has become the fourth player since 2009 to reach seven or more WTA 1000 quarter final in the same season after Agnieszka Radwanska, Li Na and Serena Williams. 

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Dusan Lajovic beats Stan Wawrinka to reach the second round in Shanghai

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Dusan Lajovic beat Stan Wawrinka 6-4 7-6 (9-7) on Stadium  Court at the Masters 1000 tournment in Shanghai in their first head-to-head match since Roland Garros 2015. 

 

Lajovic, who won the ATP 250 title in Banja Luka last April completed the set of winning a main-draw match at each of the nine Masters 1000 tournaments. 

Lajovic broke Wawrinka’s serve in the first game of the opening set. The Serbian player earned a double break in the seventh game to open up a 5-2. Wawrinka pulled one break back in the eighth game for 3-5, but Lajovic served out the first set to love. 

Lajovic earned went up a break twice in the third and seventh games of the second set, but Wawrinka broke back both times. Lajovic saved a set point at 6-7 in the tie-break and won the final three points to close out the match in 1 hour and 53 minutes. 

Lajovic hit 16 winners to just 7 unforced errors. The Serbian player moved to 1-2 in his three head-to-head matches against his Swiss opponent. 

Lajovic set up a second round match against Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor. 

Brandon Nakashima beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-1 7-6 (7-3) to set up a second round match against Holger Rune. Nakashima won his first Masters 1000 match since last March in Miami. Nakashima broke twice in the second and fourth games and held his final service game at love to seal the first set 6-1. Both players went on serve with no break points en route to the tie-break. Zapata Miralles earned an early mini-break at the start of the tie-break to take a 2-0 lead. Nakashima won seven of the next eight points including three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-3. 

Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Fabio Fognini 6-2 6-4 in 1 hour and 20 minutes. Kokkinakis earned an early break in the first game of the opening set. Fognini did not convert two break-back points in the second game. Fognini saved a break point in the fifth game, but Kokkinakis broke for the second time in the seventh game and held his serve in the next game to seal the first set 6-2. Fognini made three unforced errors at 4-4 in the second set and Kokkinakis earned the break after Fognini made his third double fault of the match. 

Kokkinakis leads 4-0 in his head-to-head matches against Fognini. The Australian player will face Hubert Hurkacz in the second round. 

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