Australia is too sexist to embrace female coaches across men’s and women’s sport, says Rennae Stubbs

Rennae Stubbs says Australia is too sexist of a nation to be ready for a club in one of its major codes to be coached by a woman and opens up on life after coaching Serena Williams.

Australian great Rennae Stubbs has taken aim at world tennis over its “missed opportunity” to engage more elite female coaches as she questioned whether a “sexist” Australia was ready to embrace a woman in a head coaching role in a major men’s code.

Revealing she was left shocked and surprised at the silence of her own phone after her work with superstar Serena Williams at the US Open last year, Stubbs said the lack of coaching opportunities for herself – and other women – in professional tennis remained frustrating.

While Stubbs has worked with the likes of Williams – for her farewell at Flushing Meadows last year – Karolina Pliskova, Genie Bouchard and Sam Stosur, she said the professional game was missing the chance to benefit from the experience and “female’s perspective” former top women players could bring.

Almost 10 years after English star Andy Murray made headlines after he announced former French player Amelie Mauresmo as his coach, she said there still needs to be a “lot, lot more” female representation in key coaching roles.

“I have had some great opportunities to work with some really terrific players,” Stubbs said.

“But you think about what I was able to help Serena with for the last couple of weeks before her US Open run where she was not playing great tennis and I think she played pretty well at the US Open, so I hope I made a difference there.

Rennae Stubbs coaches Serena Williams

“But after the US was done and everybody knew that Serena was retiring, there has not been one phone call made to me or an approach from an agent to me if I would work with one of their players.

“So (it’s) absolutely disappointing and shocking and surprising in a lot of ways. Even (fellow coach) Darren Cahill said to me ‘If you don’t get a great job after this, I will be shocked’.

“I said ‘Welcome to being a female in the coaching environment’.

“There are a lot of players that could benefit from my thinking, my previous work with other players and also my own spirited conversations with them.”

Amid a lack of coaching opportunities, Stubbs, a four-time Grand Slam doubles, two-time mixed doubles champion and respected tennis commentator, has now taken up a hosting role with Amazon.

But Stubbs remained assured of the coaching impact she could make – for both elite women and men on the professional tour.

“I think there is a missed opportunity there from some players out there that could absolutely benefit from a female’s perspective,” Stubbs said.

“There is no doubt I could step on a court with a male player and help him and I would have no problems saying that to anyone.

“To me, there is no difference between a woman coaching a male than coaching a female because men are coaching women, so what’s the difference?

“I think that women coaches are fantastic and I think they understand other women tennis players clearly better than the men.”

Daisy Pearce who is now part of the Geelong coaching staff at 3\\4 time . Pic: Michael Klein

One of the problems in women’s professional tennis, especially, as Stubbs explained, was many players opting to work with a coach who could also double as a hitting partner.

“You get these guys out there that are nowhere near the experience of someone like me or whoever when it comes to being on the big stage and being able to cope with those moments,” Stubbs said.

“They get a two-for-one kind of thing, they get a guy that can hit with them and play with them more than say a female who is retired, maybe.

“It’s cheaper to employ a guy that is younger, that can play really well and can sort of give them advice and most of these women think that that’s good enough.”

Stubbs believed the lack of women’s coaching opportunities in elite tennis were comparable with the situation in other sports worldwide.

But she said a woman would “absolutely” be capable of a senior coaching job in one of the major codes in Australia.

“I would probably put (tennis) up there with all other sports that are high-profile,” Stubbs said.

“When you look at women’s basketball or basketball in the United States, we haven’t seen a female head coach of a team.

“It’s getting closer and closer for example with the likes of people like Becky Hammon …. who has been in the system at San Antonio Spurs.

“You could argue in Australian football, AFL … there are plenty of women out there that could probably coach a men’s side given the opportunity.

Becky Hammon assistant coach of the San Antonio Spurs

“They would probably rise to the occasion because I think anyone that has the audacity to think they could coach in the premier leagues around the world is good enough to do it.”

But Stubbs questioned whether Australia was ready for it.

“I think Australia is probably as sexist as any country in the world, so doubtful,” Stubbs said.

“You’ve got to not only have the audacity, but you’ve got to have the thick skin to be able to deal with all the crap that comes your way.

“Could you imagine coaching an AFL team and the absolute vitriol that would come your way as a coach as a woman? It would just be outrageous.

“You would have to have courage to do it. You can talk to women in the codes in Australia that are CEOs or managers or there is a couple that have been given absolute hellfire for the decision-making they have made and if it was a man, they wouldn’t cop anywhere near the amount of crap that they do.

“There is no doubt in my mind there is a woman who could do that (lead coaching role), but they would have to be a really special person in their ability to be able to take the loads of vitriol that would come their way.”

Stubbs said it was critical for women to be visible in key coaching roles.

And there was one simple way to make change.

“Just give women an opportunity,” Stubbs said.

“And the women that get asked to do it don’t be afraid to say ‘Yes’ because some people in that situation are probably a little bit unsure if they can handle it and, as I said, all the crap that would come their way.

“You know as a female in a high-profile situation like that, boy oh boy, if you fail, you are never going to hear the end of it and the people that will come behind you will suffer as well because of it so there is a lot of expectation and there is a lot of pressure on them.

“But I would say, ‘Put your hand up, do it and trust your instincts’ and I think the best things will come from that opportunity.”

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Originally published as Australia is too sexist to embrace female coaches across men’s and women’s sport, says Rennae Stubbs