Controversy, crossing of opinions and “hypocrisy”: the ATP breaks a tradition and will allow “coaching” until the end of the year as an experimental phase

Tennis, one of the few sports in which the athlete competes alone on the court without outside help, has just passed a change (actually, an essay) that breaks with a tradition: The ATP, the body that manages the men’s circuit, announced that will be allowed coachingthat is, the communication between the players and their coachessomething that many already do but that was not regulated and that caused constant sanctions by the chair umpires.

The trial period will allow these “instructions” during qualifying and main draw matches at ATP Tour tournaments beginning the week of July 11, after Wimbledon. The test will also be authorized during the US Open (the last Grand Slam of the season) and will extend until the ATP Finals, popularly known as the Masters Cup, which will close the season in Turin in November. The testing phase will be subject to a collective evaluation at the end of the season and it will be determined if the potential inclusion of coaching is beneficial or not.

Coaching will be permitted under the following conditions:

Although the coaching It is an action that has always been carried out during matches (sometimes, in secret), the decision of the ATP does not go unnoticed in the men’s circuit. Some protagonists of the tour understand that it is “more of the same but regulated”. It is even a situation that is openly seen during Davis Cup matches, in which the captains sit on the same bench as the players and are allowed to communicate with them.

Others believe that the authorization of the coaching It takes away a part of the essence of the game. In this last position, for example, the Spanish Carlos Moyaformer number 1 in the world and one of the coaches of Rafael Nadal. “I am not very much in favor of coaching. What makes tennis a special sport is that it is the only one where you are alone against the other without anyone’s help, “said Moya, in Eurosport. Of course, other coaches, when listening to or reading the Mallorcan’s testimony, said, between laughs, words more, words less: “If I had Nadal I would think the same”.

“I am in favor (of coaching), above all to break this hypocrisy in the environment and lack of consistency with the sanctions to the coaches. Sometimes the chair umpire does not dare, suddenly the next day he dares for a coaching less conspicuous. Then there are coaches who are fined for simply saying ‘We will!‘ during the game. It was not a stable situation, it was not well regulated, ”he commented, on the web Tennis Majors, Gilles Cervaracoach of the current number 1 in the world, the Russian Daniil Medvedev.

And he expanded: “We had been waiting for the announcement for a while. As I understand it, the decision was made after consulting several coaches. Daniel Vallverdú consulted me [venezolano, ex coach de Andy Murray y de Juan Martín del Potro], which had been trying to get this initiative off the ground for a few years. I indicated that we had to stop with this hypocrisy, since all the coaches do coaching at some point, either with words or gestures. From now on, it is finally authorized as a practice that exists. Of all mods I do not think it will change much, since the rule will not allow extensive dialogue to take place, as it can in training.

The French Patrick Mouratoglou, for years coach of Serena Williams, current driver of the Romanian Simona Halep and owner of one of the most promoted tennis academies on the tour, celebrated on Twitter: “Congratulations to the ATP for ‘legalizing’ a practice that has been carried out in almost all parties for decades. No more hypocrisy.”

Those words on social networks were a trigger for other more spicy comments, such as that of the Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios: “Totally disagree. It loses one of the only traits that no other sport had. The player had to figure things out on his own. That was the beauty of it. What happens if a high-profile player against a low-ranking player who doesn’t have or can’t afford a coach?

The debate, starting with the publication of Mouratoglou (a protagonist who divides the waters in the world of tennis, since some call him “selling” an image of a guru that is unreal), continued on social networks. the australian Todd Woodbridgeone of the best doubles players of all time (number 1 in the world in 1992 and winner of 83 titles, 16 of them Grand Slam together with his compatriot Mark Woodforde and the Swedish Jonas Björkman), shot: “It is very disappointing to see that such a high-profile coach openly admits that he has broken the rules of our sport for so long.”

“It’s pathetic”the Russian joined Yevgeny Kafelnikovnumber 1 in the world in 1999.

“This is particularly bad of you, Todd. You’ve been on tour a long time. Why do you deny the evidence that the coaching happens every day on the courts? Deliberately try to make me look bad and accuse me? This is disappointing…”Mouratoglou replied to the Australian. And he wrote back: “Well, I can honestly say that my coaches did not do coaching from the stands.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf83j8Ocwn4

The issue is not new. In fact, in some competitions of the women’s circuit and adapted tennis the coaching is already authorized. This decision that the ATP will adopt, in addition to stopping sanctioning coaches like the Greek Apostolos Tsitsipas (the father and coach of Stefanos Tsitsipas, the current 6th in the ranking, who is undoubtedly one of those who leak the most messages to his pupil during the games and who receives the most punishment), will act as an interesting experimental phase. Tennis is a sport that, beyond its tradition, has adapted to different changes. And this, in the immediate term, could be one more.