Those paying attention to the tennis action in Dubai over the past couple of days may have noticed a new trend developing.
Evidence of it has come with 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina making an on-court coaching visit to Svetlana Kuznetsova, ex-world No60 Julie Coin doing the same for Madison Brengle, while former world No1 Justine Henin was courtside for Elina Svitolina’s clash.
The presence of female coaches in the tennis world – both on the men’s and women’s tours – has not necessarily been a common sight, but it looks like quite a few former WTA players are getting back into the game as coaches with Henin being the latest to join the pool, as she serves as a consultant to Svitolina’s team.
On the men’s side, Andy Murray became the highest profile player to hire a female coach when he started working with French ex-world No1 Amelie Mauresmo mid-2014.
Coin, also a Frenchwoman, retired from the sport at the end of last season and immediately joined Brengle as her travelling coach.
“She’s a friend of mine so when I told her I’m going to stop at the end of the year, first thing she said was ‘oh cool, can I hire you?’,” Coin told Sport360 ahead of Brengle’s second round against Petra Kvitova Wednesday.
The 33-year-old was taken by surprise but accepted the offer and has been travelling with Brengle since the start of 2016.
“She has her coach in Florida and I’m travelling with her for certain weeks so she’s not all alone on the road. And with this new rule of on-court coaching and stuff, it’s also helpful to have someone,” explained Coin.
“So far it has been really easy, she’s really easy-going, she has the American fighting spirit, she’s not scared of anyone or anything so it makes it a lot easier.
“The French tend to be a little more negative and stuff but so far it’s really easy, I don’t feel pressure, it’s really good. And she’s having good wins so far.”
Brengle beat Ekaterina Makarova, who was ranked inside the top-10 last year, in her Dubai debut match on Monday and will face off with another lefty in Kvitova Wednesday.
“She’s played (German lefty Angelique) Kerber twice in Australia (last month), and now she’s playing twice in a row, I don’t know how many lefties are on tour but she’s going to play all of them,” joked Coin, who added that she can sense a rising trend in former female players rejoining the tour as coaches.
“I think I can understand what she’s going through sometimes because women, we all think the same, and because I played on tour also, I know some of the feelings she can get during a match,” she added.
“So it’s easier maybe for her also to talk to me and share some stuff,” said Coin. “It’s good to have some women on the tour coaching because I think maybe we’re the best one that can understand everything because we went through that.
“I hope more and more players are going to do it. It’s not that easy because as women we want to have a family. If you can travel with the whole family then it’s okay but it’s like having the same life as you had on tour so it’s about whether you’re willing to do it or not after retiring.
“So far with Maddie we are planning to travel for 10-15 weeks but after Doha (next week) it’s going to be already five weeks, so it’s going to go really fast, so it might be more at the end. Since I don’t have like a family or anything yet, I can do it.
“Maybe it’s going to change when I will want to have babies but so far I’m enjoying it. I see more players turning to coaching too so it’s fun. It’s really good, at least we stay between friends, we keep this same like family around us.”
Tennis players don’t always have many opportunities in front of them once they retire and Coin believes she was lucky she had something lined up straight away.
“I was not as scared to stop, knowing I had this opportunity. So maybe also her telling me this made me sure of my decision even more. I’m really glad I got this opportunity and it opened up to other ones too. So it’s pretty good. I’m in a good place right now,” she said.
