Serena Williams and former trainer Patrick Mouratoglou had unparalleled success on tennis courts around the globe from 2012 to 2022, when the legend won 10 Grand Slam singles titles, a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, and regained the world No. 1 ranking. However, few knew the details of their sudden split.
That all changed this month when Mouratoglou was interviewed by “the Guardian‚” and revealed the main catalyst — Williams’ baby weight.
“It was after the pregnancy — not right after; I know these things take time,” Mouratoglou said. “I told her: ‘Listen, this is not a comment on how you look. It’s not my problem.’ But tennis is a sport in which you can’t afford to be overweight.”
“First of all, the pressure on your joints and everything is so big that your chances [of injury] become much higher,” he explained. “The second thing is it’s a sport in which you change directions all the time and with a lot of speed. Even one kilo overweight is a lot. When you go full speed in one direction with one kilo extra and then need to stop and come back, the time that you lose is really important.”
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Williams gave a terse, and dismissive response when asked how she felt about moving on from Mouratoglou at a press conference in 2022.
“I didn’t even think about it… I don’t know, it feels good. I’m having a wonderful time here and I just didn’t even think about it,” she said at the time.
In total, Williams won a record 23 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era, the most by any player. She is a four-time Olympic gold medalist, including in singles and as part of the most successful Olympic doubles team in history with her sister, Venus.
Williams won her first 13 Grand slams prior to working with Mouratoglou.