Coco Gauff the only ‘big star in women’s tennis’, says top coach as he insists there are no ‘superstars’
Patrick Mouratoglou has doubled down on his comments that there are no real superstars in women’s tennis, saying Coco Gauff is the only “big star”.
The Frenchman, who coached the great Serena Williams, recently defended Roland Garros organisers’ decision to snub women for night matches at the French Open, saying fans prefer to watch the likes of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.
“Most of the people who go to the stadiums are not really core fans of tennis, so they want to come back home and say, ‘I saw Djokovic’, or ‘I saw Alcaraz’, if they come back and say ‘I saw [Iga] Swiatek’, it’s not the same,” he stated.
“Swiatek, who is a four-time winner, and three in a row, she’s not a superstar.”
He was widely condemned for suggesting that people don’t want to watch the likes of Swiatek as well as world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and newly crowned French Open winner Gauff during night matches.
Mouratoglou has again taken to Instagram to defend his statement and he wrote in his caption: “Women’s tennis is full of talent and champions.
“What we’re still waiting for is the next global superstar — someone who can transcend the sport like Serena, Roger or Rafa did.
That kind of star power brings new fans and fills stadiums everywhere. This is the difference between a great player and a star!”
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In a video, he then went further to explain: “There is a difference between being a top player, playing incredible tennis and a star. So I explained that women’s tennis lacks superstars, there is one big star, Coco Gauff, who in terms of aura, is higher than anyone at the moment.
“I’m not saying there will not be in the future. I said there had been huge superstars in women’s tennis. I’m thinking about Serena, Venus [Williams], [Maria] Sharapova.
“And it can happen to men’s tennis too in some eras where you don’t have stars, it happened in the past between the [Pete] Sampras, [Andre] Agassi and Roger [Federer], Rafa [Nadal], there were no superstars of that level on men’s tennis.
“So what I’m saying is this is not at all against women tennis, the market decides it.
“To understand [it, we have to know] what is a superstar effect.
“When Serena was playing, it was the first time in US Open history that tickets for the women’s final were sold out before those for the men’s. When we went to Baastad with Serena, the year before [we went] the stadium was not full. Serena comes, before the start of the tournament, the stadium is sold out the whole week.
“Superstars fill stadiums. There people that enter the court, they take the court. They’re able to have an aura off the court and they become big.
“Take a taxi and ask questions. ‘Oh, do you know tennis? No, I’m not a tennis fan. Okay, who do you know? 90% of the time, I ask women, ‘Serena.’ I ask men ‘oh Rafa.
“These people aren’t tennis fans, but they know Serena. Everyone knows Serena.”
