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Serena Should Hire Spadea As Her New Coach
5 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Scoop
By Scoop Malinowski
There comes a time in the life of a tennis champion that changes must be made. For Serena Williams that time is now.
She’s lost her last two major finals at Wimbledon and US Open and endured the embarrassing episode of having her coach Patrick Mouratoglou contradict her insistence that she was not being coached by him.
The time has come to part ways with Mouratoglou for publicly defying and contradicting one of the greatest champions in tennis history.
For a legendary champion to replace a coach at such a late stage of a career is a tricky endeavor. Legends are set in their ways and really only a few certain people would be qualified to step in to be their coach. It would have to be someone who has played the majors and competed on the biggest stages against the best in the world. Mouratoglou never won a single ATP point.
By finding such a qualified coaching candidate, Serena could jump start her career with a new fresh infusion of advices, opinions, practice drills, energy and enthusiasm. Vince Spadea would be a perfect choice for Serena to consider. The two know each other and have spent time together in the past. According to Dan Markowitz’s book Break Point about Spadea, the former top 15 ATP star got along well with Serena and there is a mutual respect.
Like how former Tour player Dmitry Tursunov is helping Aryna Sabalenka become a dominant force in the WTA in 2018, Spadea has a similar wealth of tennis wisdom and experiences to share with any player, including a legendary figure like Serena who has been playing the exact same game for years.
Spadea has expressed interest to coach certain players in the past such as Donald Young and Stefan Kozlov but it just did not work out.
The Spadea and Serena combination looks like it could be a potential success and both sides, based in Los Angeles and South Florida, should seriously consider getting together and having some serious discussions and workouts.
Serena Williams · Vince Spadea
Dan Markowitz · September 27, 2018 at 2:23 pm
Seriously, Scoop, I respect Spadea’s tennis knowledge and I think he could make a great coach, but Vince hasn’t coached anyone on the pro tour or has he developed a single player since he’s retired. Why would Serena choose an unknown quality who’s shown no inclination to travel with a player and frankly, would probably be inclined to draw more attention to himself. Patrick M. does some of that too, but he’s very good at not only preparing Serena, but then in a dignified way, conduct interviews solely from the role as Serena’s coach.
If Vince wanted to coach and not be an agent for female models and actresses, he would’ve looked to step into that career a while ago.
Scoop Malinowski · September 27, 2018 at 2:49 pm
Dan you know Vince wanted to coach and made contacts with Young, Escobedo, Kozlov about working together, and I believe another player too, but nothing panned out. Vince is a brilliant tennis mind and if he got the chance you know he would be a benefit to any player, including the greatest woman player of all time. Vince and Serena have a positive history together and they were friendly, according to your book. Vince just needs the opportunity. Vince is not a showboat at all and he would defer to Serena and not try to hog the spotlight. Tursunov has been an incredible advantage for Sabalenka and I think Vince could have a similar positive impact on Serena. Mouratoglou did a good job as Serena’s spokesman and mouthpiece but she has stagnated this year and it’s time for change. Can you think of any other ideas for a new coach for Serena?
Dan Markowitz · September 27, 2018 at 9:30 pm
I wouldn’t say Serena’s game stagnated this year. Her getting to finals of the Open losing only one set was pretty impressive I thought and next year she could easily win a slam or two. A lot of the credit has to go to Mourataglou.
As far as Spadea is concerned, I think Tursunov showed you what caeeer path you take after retiring as a pro player if you really want to go into coaching. Within a few months of retiring he was coaching Vesnina and now Sabalenka. Vince hasn’t remotely taken that route and I don’t think he reached out to Young or Kizlov about coaching them and Escobedo contacted Vince, but according to Vince he didn’t want to pay him. I haven’t talked to Vince in a couple of years, but I think the chance of him coaching a pro player, especially Serena, is extremely remote.
Scoop Malinowski · September 28, 2018 at 7:55 am
Vince should have taken the job with Esco to get his foot in the door and then other players would have considered him if he had success or showed a good work ethic. Vince has a lot to offer, we know that. He just needs the chance. Tursunov was a better player than Vince – seven titles to one – but Vince was higher ranked. So Vince has a lot of wisdom and experience if he applied himself to be a coach. Serena stagnated. She has to beat a 20 year old player in her first major final, Serena has to beat Osaka. She should beat Kerber too. Mouratoglou has accomplished nothing notable as a coach with any of his other players beyond Serena. It’s plausible he’s just riding Serena’s coattails. If she really valued his coaching, she would have used him at least once for OCC. But she never used him ever even ONCE.
Dan Markowitz · September 28, 2018 at 11:09 am
Didn’t Mouratoglou coach Bagdhatis at the beginning? He also has this no. 1 boy’s junior player or at least he goes to his academy. I think what you’ve seen with Serena since she started working with the Frenchman is she’s a more aggressive player from serve to moving forward. Serena for all her power and good volley skills didn’t move forward to readily early in her career.