Mouratoglou named PTR Touring Coach of the Year
February 20, 2016
Hilton Head Island, SC — Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) presented its annual awards last night during the 2016 PTR International Tennis Symposium. The event, which includes more than 40 educational presentations for tennis teachers and coaches, is underway until February 20, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Patrick Mouratoglou, of Sophi Antipolis in the French Riviera, France, has been named PTR Jim Verdieck Touring Coach of the Year. He hit his first tennis ball at six, and 20 years later began his coaching career. By 1996, he founded the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, where he has coached many top players, including Marcos Baghdatis, Julia Vakulenko, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Aravane Rezaï, Jérémy Chardy, Laura Robson, Yanina Wickmayer and Grigor Dimitrov.
Mouratoglou started coaching Baghdatis in 1999, after inviting the young player to his academy for one week. Baghdatis was, according to Mouratoglou, “not an athlete at all”, however within seven years, he would become the world’s #1 junior, win the 2003 Australian Open boys’ title, reach the finals of the same tournament in 2006, but as a pro, and enter the world’s Top 10.
Alizé Cornet and Yanina Wickmayer, both WTA Top 30 players, have put their trust in Mouratoglou and are currently training there between tournaments, as is Jeremy Chardy on the man’s side.
Serena Williams teamed with Mouratoglou in 2012, after her first round loss at the French Open, the world #1’s earliest career exit in a Grand Slam. She hadn’t won a Slam for two years and was world #5. Since then, they had an incredible run winning eight Grand Slams, two Olympic Gold medals and in three years with Mouratoglou, spent more weeks at #1 than the rest of her career all together.
End of 2014 and 2015 have been incredibly successful as Serena won four consecutive Grand Slam titles: the US Open 2014, Australian Open 2015, Roland Garros and Wimbledon 2015, and lost only in the semifinals of the 2015 US Open. She ends the season #1 in the world for the third consecutive year.
Off the court, Mouratoglou is a contributor for several magazines and blogs, and wrote two books: Educate to Win in 2008 and The Coach in 2014. His television show, The Coach, replete with innovation, won the 2015 FICTS Award for Sports Programing.
In addition, Mouratogolou is the Founder and President of Champ’Seed Foundation, an organization that provides financial resources to help talented young players to acquire the skills and guidance to reach their full potential.
“Coaching is the most fascinating human adventure,” explained Mouratoglou. “It’s about understanding and discovering the other and entering his universe. I wanted to be a coach, because it is the best job in the world – helping people achieve their goals and making their dreams come true.”
For further information, visit patrickmouratoglou.com