Serena’s coach to open giant tennis academy on Victoria’s surf coast ... and he has advice for Kyrgios

Legendary French tennis coach and entrepreneur Patrick Mouratoglou says finding a way to ease the pressure on Nick Kyrgios could help make him a grand slam winner, while Alex de Minaur has the growth left in his game to take it to yet another level.

Coaching is in every sense Mouratoglou’s business. He’s guided dozens of pros, but the protege of whom he is most proud, of course, is Serena Williams.

Tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou at Royal South Yarra on Thursday.Credit: Chris Hopkins

He was in Melbourne on Thursday to announce the construction of a branch of his famous French Riviera tennis academy on Victoria’s surf coast. To be incorporated into a vast new sport and wellness resort, it will open in 2026.

Mouratoglou’s Australian academy will expand an empire that has centres in Dubai, Costa Rica, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Beijing and New York. In scale, it will replicate Nice, comprising 48 courts and able to take in 200 students at a time. By 2027, an as yet unnamed boarding school will be on board.

It will be a cornerstone of the Cape Otway Road Australia precinct, a $500 million joint project of government and local business, that will also feature a five-star hotel, shops, pubs and restaurants, a museum, an organic farm and wetlands. Set on 220 hectares at Modewarre, 25 kilometres outside Geelong, construction is scheduled to begin this year.

Mouratoglou says the new academy is meant to augment rather than compete with Tennis Australia’s development programs.

Nick Kyrgios will sit out another major championship through injury.Credit: AP

“When I started in 1996, the French federation thought it was a competition,” he said. “But I don’t think it is. I think there are enough players in a country like Australia for both a federation and a private academy.

“Nobody can take care of all the players, and I don’t think it’s the goal for TA to take care of all the players, but more to give a chance to everyone who wants a chance. I think we can work really well alongside TA to help this country be as powerful as it can be in tennis.”

Kyrgios has played one lonely match in the past 12 months because of persistent injuries and has not had a coach since 2017. But Mouratoglou says he understands the enigmatic Australian and thinks he could turn him into a major championship winner, but only if and when Kyrgios is open to the idea of being mentored at all.

“The thing is, he needs to want to have a coach. You cannot work with a player who doesn’t want a coach,” said Mouratoglou.

Alex de Minaur trains at Melbourne Park on Thursday.Credit: Chris Hopkins.

“That will be his decision one day, or maybe never. We’ll see.

“The guy has incredible potential. He’s complicated. He’s complex. Sometimes I’m not even sure he understands himself. But watching him from the side for so many years, I can understand him. I can feel him. I think there are a lot of very smart things to do with him to make him a Grand Slam winner, or more.”

Serena Williams with the 2012 WImbledon trophy.Credit: Getty Images.

One would be to redefine the concept of pressure. “You cannot coach him like you would coach anyone [else],” Mouratoglou said. “For him, you have to smartly take pressure away from him. And let him face pressure, but not for him to know that he is facing pressure. And he will learn to like it.”

De Minaur was a simpler proposition. “He’s not a player who has big weapons and he knows it,” Mouratoglou said. “He’s smartly developed his game to make it as efficient as it can be. I can see him going even further. I think it’s going to be an exciting season for him. This is the first time he’s been in the top 10 and now everything is open for him.”

When Mouratoglou and Williams joined forces for Wimbledon in 2012, Williams was 30, had not won a major for a couple of years and was unsure she wanted to play on.

“It was a difficult time for her,” Mouratoglou said. “She was very nervous and she was far from playing her best tennis.”

Williams won that tournament, singles and doubles, and Olympic gold soon afterwards, and would win 10 majors altogether in 10 years with Mouratoglou. But he said extracting the best of a player ranked in the 500s was just as rewarding.

He says a good coach can change a career, but regrets that until recently, coaches were largely unheard and unseen. Unsurprisingly, he welcomes on-court coaching, saying it adds both to the quality of the game and the drama.

“Historically, coaches were not allowed to speak to players, which to me made no sense,” he said. “In all other sports, coaches are allowed to do their job during the matches, except tennis.”

He said coaches had always coached anyway, surreptitiously.

“It’s better to do it openly, so the public can also enjoy those moments,” he said.

“When you see an interaction between a player and a coach during a match, in a very emotional moment, you get to know the players better. For the fans, it’s important to have more inside information, to be more inside the court than outside of it.”

Novak Djokovic gets his hands on the Australian Open trophy in 2023.Credit: Eddie Jim

Mouratoglou agreed that tennis coaching was unique in that the employee called the shots. He said the secret was not to act as a boss, but to earn respect so that the employer accepted the employee’s authority.

In the tennis ecosystem, sometimes superstars dominate, leading to charges that it lacks competition. And sometimes the field is open, prompting complaints that it lacks star quality. Mouratoglou thinks there’s a happy medium.

“I think every sport needs superstars. Superstars go beyond the sport and bring in new fans. They fill up the stadiums,” he said. “Superstars are necessary for the sport, but also young players coming up because we need that competition. I don’t think it’s great if the champions always win. There has to be some suspense and uncertainty.”

The men’s game is nicely poised, he said, with one outright superstar – Novak Djokovic – here and a host of possible usurpers. The women’s game is dwelling on the establishment of new superstars, certainly Naomi Osaka and perhaps Coco Gauff.

Watch all the Australian Open action live on Nine, 9Gem, 9Now and Stan Sport from Sunday, January 14.

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