Patrick Mouratoglou
  • How Zvonareva beat Azarenka

    Vera Zvonareva defeated her former doubles partner Victoria Azarenka after a long, tough encounter on day two of the WTA Tour Championships in Doha.

    Let's look at the way in which she achieved the victory.

    The mental challenge

    First and foremost, Zvonareva's biggest challenge was a mental one.

    The Russian enjoyed a very strong relationship with her former coach, so splitting from him a year ago must have been difficult for her.

    So difficult, in fact, that we could feel her pain during the toughest moments, and it took her almost six months to recover and start picking up those great results

    Read More »from How Zvonareva beat Azarenka
  • What to expect this week

    ATP
    - Thomas Muster has been given a wild card for the Vienna event and will face Ernests Gulbis in the first round.
    - Viktor Troicki claimed the Moscow title by overcoming Marcos Baghdatis. He is playing the best tennis of his career. A good sign for the Serbian.
    - Roger Federer won his 64th title in Stockholm and is now head to head with Sampras.
    - Three tournaments are scheduled this week: Vienna, St Petersburg and Montpellier.
    - Lleyton Hewitt has become a father for the third time. His wife has just given birth to a little girl.

    WTA
    - Victoria Azarenka qualified for Doha after her successful

    Read More »from What to expect this week
  • What we learned: October 11-17

    What did we learn from last week's tennis?

    WTA

    Ana Ivanovic is back. The Serbian won the WTA title in Linz after the shortest final of the year. The trend of which I spoke at the US Open is becoming more and more obvious: having Heinz Gunthardt, Steffi Graf's former mentor, by her side brings her the essential emotional balance she was lacking. Ana is improving and building confidence.

    In the Osaka final we had a battle between the old guard: Kimiko Date Krumm and Tamarine Tanasugarn. It ended with the younger player's triumph. The Japanese was obviously hampered by her tough matches earlier

    Read More »from What we learned: October 11-17
  • How Federer must change his game

    Roger Federer lost the Shanghai Masters final against Andy Murray in straight sets after playing brilliantly throughout the rest of the tournament.

    Unquestionably the 'Annacone' version of Roger is a good deal better than the previous one, but I am worried that the player is not going far enough.

    While I agree that he now seems more determined and offensive, I would like to point out certain flaws in the theory that he is a new player.

    Shanghai must be put into perspective

    We have to take a step back from what he did in Shanghai. His match against Robin Soderling was a good one, but the

    Read More »from How Federer must change his game
  • With field down to 32, which woman is favored to win U.S Open?

    Serena Williams, the world No. 1, was forced to pull out of the U.S. Open, her main rivals are engaged in a fight for the title. Having Serena out of the picture will undoubtedly lead to a fierce battle, considering how she usually is the main obstacle for the rest of the field. For some, it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get their career to the next level. But this situation also means huge pressure for the players who know that such a big chance might not come back very often in the near future.

    The favorites

    1. Kim Clijsters -- Kim is the favorite in New York. She's coming

    Read More »from With field down to 32, which woman is favored to win U.S Open?
  • Federer in trouble

    The elimination of Roger Federer was the only upset registered after Wimbledon men's
    quarterfinals. But what an upset!

    With seven consecutive finals - which shows how he used to dominate on grass - the fall of Federer comes as a real shock.

    This major setback confirms the man from Switzerland is having issues with his game.

    He has been having them since the start of 2010.

    Remember Roger has not won any singles title, except of course the Australian Open
    last January.

    On Monday he will be ranked world number three.

    This match could be seen as the one which illustrated the state of mind of

    Read More »from Federer in trouble
  • Murray capable of usurping Nadal

    Most of the
    time, when a player is confronted by Rafael Nadal, it appears to me as if he
    has no strategy and as if he's not giving his all to succeed.

    It's like
    he already knows he's going to lose, is resigned to defeat and, worst of all, is
    helping Nadal's best abilities to shine through.

    But even if
    very few of his opponents seem to believe it, Nadal isn't unbeatable and it
    annoys me to see the behaviour of his opponents.

    He's still
    a human being, with strengths and weaknesses. He's not forever immune from a
    bad day either. Don't get me wrong; I'm fully aware of Nadal's great abilities
    in

    Read More »from Murray capable of usurping Nadal
  • Two great Champions for an exceptional decade

    On the eve of the upcoming US Open I find it interesting to focus on the absolute domination of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer over the last ten years.
    These two great champions have printed their name on the history books.
    It is also the moment to analyze their real chances to win at Flushing Meadows, which will start in a few days.

    Two players have written tennis's history over the last five years.

    If we take a closer look at the history of tennis, we can notice only one, or two players have dominated a decade of tennis.
    In the 70's it was Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg who were on top of the

    Read More »from Two great Champions for an exceptional decade
  • Roger Federer back in business

    I am convinced that Roger Federer is back in business.

    Some may think I'm rushing into this conclusion, but I have seen vital signs which prove, in my opinion, that the champion we all love has returned.

    I'm not going to predict that he will win every match he plays, but I am convinced he has rediscovered his motivation, something lacking over the past year. 

    And as such he becomes one of my favorites to win the US Open.

    Against Tomas Berdych in the Toronto semi-finals, Roger chose to attack from the first point of the match. He was hitting the ball with conviction, adding speed to the

    Read More »from Roger Federer back in business
  • Ana Ivanovic is shining again

    I've really enjoyed watching Ana Ivanovic's wins in the opening rounds of the US Open.

    Knowing how much the young Serb has struggled lately, I'm sure she's deeply enjoying the rediscovery of the style of play that previously led her to the number one ranking spot.

    But we mustn't get too enthusiastic too soon. Ana is still recovering; she's got a long way to go, considering how much her game has suffered over the past couple of years.

    Two years of doubts have seen her fall from number one to 80 in the rankings.

    But, more than that, it was the loss of her automatic game and confidence that led

    Read More »from Ana Ivanovic is shining again

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About Patrick Mouratoglou

For 15 years Patrick Mouratoglou has headed the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, renowned as one of the most successful in producing future champions. The Academy has an impressive honours list with several junior world champions and players who have reached the world"s top 10. He has coached Marcos Baghdatis, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Aravane Rezai, Jérémy Chardy, Grigor Dimitrov and is currently coaching Serena Williams. Writer of the book "Educate to Win", he is a monthly consultant for several international magazines and Eurosport TV.

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