Here are the ATP 2021 Coach Nominees – but who made it onto the list?

ATP Tour
ATP Tour sign

The ATP have released their shortlist for Coach of the Year 2021 and it looks like the fellow ATP coaches who will be judging the competition will have a tough decision to make.

The coaches of Hubert Hurkacz, Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz, Cameron Norrie and Casper Ruud are all nominees for this year’s award – but who are they and why do they deserve to win?

Look no further as here is a rundown of all potential winners:

Gilles Cervara – Daniil Medvedev

Cervara has been coaching Medvedev for four years now and has previously won this award back in 2019 but has continued to push Medvedev to new heights, helping him achieve his world No 2 ranking.

Under his mentorship this season, the Russian player made it to the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics, reached 63-tour level wins on the ATP Tour and beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the final of the US Open to claim his first Grand Slam title.

Medvedev didn’t just shine in individual events though, Cervara also helped the 25-year-old in the Davis Cup where his Russian team won the competition.

Craig Boynton – Hubert Hurkacz

This partnership is only two years old but Boynton has already transformed Hurkacz’s game, helping him to his first ATP Masters 1000 win and third ATP title overall at the Miami Open earlier this season and reach a career high of world No 9 on November 8.

They started working together at the Indian Wells Masters in 2019 and haven’t looked back since.

Hurkacz also became only the second Polish player to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon this year before he was denied a place in the final by Matteo Berrettini.

He also managed to defeat former world No 1 Andy Murray in straight sets at the Cincinnati Masters in August before being knocked out at the third round.

Facundo Lugones – Cameron Norrie

Lugones didn’t choose this life as a tennis coach, in fact the tennis coach life didn’t even choose him – Cameron Norrie did.

They both met at Texas Christian University, when Norrie was just starting out and Lugones was ready to graduate, and despite having volunteered as a coach for the college’s tennis team, Lugones was destined for a career in finance.

The 26-year-old British player was having none of that and asked the part time coach to go on tour with him, he agreed, and the rest is history.

Norrie has only just started making a name for himself this season, and his stint in the ATP Finals as an alterative for injured Stefanos Tsitsipas no doubt helped that.

Wimbledon 2021 marked a massive achievement for Norrie as he managed to get to the third round of the competition and if this wasn’t enough, it was the third time he’d got to the third round of a Grand Slam tournament in a row in 2021.

And this is just the beginning of Norrie’s career, who knows what Lugones is going to do with him next?

Juan Carlos Ferrero – Carlos Alcaraz

When you’ve got a coach who’s a former world No 1, you know you’ve made the right decision – and that’s just the decision Alcaraz made.

The 18-year-old Spaniard rose from No 141 to No 32 in the ATP year-end rankings this season, making him the youngest man to finish in the top 32 since Andrei Medvedev finished his season as No 24 in 1992.

Ferrero starting coaching Alcaraz when he was just 15 years old and he has since led him to all four Grand Slams, he’s now one of the youngest players to reach the fourth round in a major competition which he achieved at the 2021 US Open after beating world No 3 Tsitsipas.

Alcaraz finished last season on a high after winning his first ATP Finals championship at the Next Gen competition – he only lost one set throughout the whole tournament.

Christian Ruud – Casper Ruud

No prizes for figuring out how these two met but their lifelong bond must have a great impact on court as Casper Rudd won five ATP Tour titles this season under the guidance of his dad.

He overtook his father in October as the 22-year-old’s world ranking of No 8 made him the most successful Norwegian tennis player in history, a title once held by Christian.

At the very start of the season, Ruud managed to make it all the way to the fourth round of the Australian Open, the first time he’d made it this far in a Grand Slam.

Cameron Norrie Carlos Alcaraz Casper Ruud Daniil Medvedev Hubert Hurkacz

Latest