Ferrero was Alcaraz\u2019s first full-time coach, and Samuel Lopez, who worked as Ferrero\u2019s No. 2 and led the team in tournaments at which Ferrero was absent, will stay on. Alcaraz and Ferrero\u2019s relationship started at the Spaniard\u2019s academy, but different players at different stages of their careers take various approaches to who they hire, and why.<\/p>\n
Novak Djokovic has tended to seek out coaches who have scaled the mountain he chose, hiring Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Goran Ivani\u0161evi\u0107 and Andy Murray<\/a> through his career. All of them are former Wimbledon champions and multiple major winners, Ivanisevic apart. The 24-time Grand Slam champion needs the voice of someone who he respects and who is happy to have it out with him mid-match\u2026 until they aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n A few months after Djokovic and Ivani\u0161evi\u0107 parted ways<\/a> in March last year, six seasons and 12 major titles in the bank, Ivani\u0161evi\u0107 explained that they simply ran out of patience with each other. Djokovic and Murray<\/a> split ahead of the 2025 French Open, which a representative for Murray described as a mutual decision.<\/p>\n When Djokovic hired Murray 12 months ago, his decision came on the back of a reshuffle at the top of the WTA Tour, with world No. 2 Iga \u015awi\u0105tek<\/a>, world No. 3 Coco Gauff<\/a> and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka<\/a> all firing and then hiring in the wake of that year\u2019s U.S. Open<\/a> in a bid to renew their games, work on technique, strengthen relationships, gain an edge \u2014 or rather, a mix of all these things that is unique to each player\u2019s priorities and each coach\u2019s way of working.<\/p>\n That mix can win titles and inspire careers, but it had better work, with players and their teams on the road together and working at close quarters for practically the entire year. \u201cI imagine that if I had a family and kids, I would not be here at all,\u201d world No. 18 Marta Kostyuk\u2019s coach Sandra Zaniewska<\/a> said during an interview last year.<\/p>\n A technical master or a sideline hype master? A proven champion or a developing prospect? Players and coaches alike have myriad decisions to make in choosing each other.<\/p>\n There are all sorts of factors that go into choosing a coach. Sometimes players want to work on something technical, whether a shot or a surface. Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka brought in former Wimbledon champion Richard Kraijcek in 2016 to improve his grass-court tennis; Roger Federer and Murray did the same thing for clay with Jose Higueras and Alex Corretja respectively.<\/p>\n Djokovic hired Ivani\u0161evi\u0107 in part to improve his serve, increasing its fluency and turning Djokovic into one of the most feared and precise servers in the sport in the early 2020s. In search of a better net game, Djokovic employed Australian player Mark Woodforde, who won 11 Grand Slam doubles titles with fellow \u2018Woody\u2019 Mark Woodbridge; he hired former U.S. Open finalist Todd Martin to work on his serve earlier in his career with less successful results.<\/p>\n Technical changes were the main motivation behind Gauff\u2019s decision to split with Brad Gilbert<\/a>, with whom she won the U.S. Open<\/a> in 2023. Gilbert coached Gauff to deflect the vulnerabilities in her serve and forehand by turning matches into battles of defense and attrition; he would tell her to hit her forehand with a slow, looping arc to neutralize attacks. When opponents figured this out \u2014 and her serve kept letting her down \u2014 it was time for a change, not just in her game but in the type of coaching that would help her progress.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted someone to help me with what I wanted to see progress in, especially on the serve,\u201d Gauff said in a news conference at last year\u2019s WTA Tour Finals in Saudi Arabia, which she won in an early boost to her relationship with Matt Daly, a specialist on both footwork and grip technique, and Jean-Christophe Faurel. Gauff has since split with Daly to work with Gavin MacMillan<\/a>, a biomechanics expert who specializes in serve development.<\/p>\n \u201cJC\u201d has worked with Gauff previously and players often return to coaches they know and trust. Djokovic went back to long-time coach Marian Vajda in 2018 before they split for a second time four years later. Murray did likewise, bringing Ivan Lendl back in 2016 after the latter had stepped down two years earlier, and then again for a third spell in 2022.<\/p>\n As when football clubs sack and hire managers, availability is the intangible that remains out of players\u2019 control and choosing a familiar face can be easier than going into the unknown, especially in the case of Djokovic, 38, who does not have much time left in his career to take a punt on something new.<\/p>\n \n Coco Gauff switched from a tactical to a technical focus in her coaching team. (Artur Widak \/ NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Emma Raducanu is another player focused on improving a specific shot \u2014 often the serve or forehand. If she doesn\u2019t feel it\u2019s working, she is quick to move on. Torben Beltz, who was brought in to improve Raducanu\u2019s forehand in November 2021, was sacked five months later when it was felt that insufficient progress was being made. Raducanu doesn\u2019t want a hype man or woman, but technical expertise. She has enjoyed a fruitful relationship with Francisco Roig, a longtime coach of Rafael Nadal, since they started working together earlier this year.<\/p>\n One of the most successful examples of technical focus in recent times comes from women\u2019s world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a>, who transformed her serve with the support of MacMillan after it completely broke down in 2022.<\/p>\n It\u2019s something \u015awi\u0105tek, who Sabalenka dethroned as world No. 1<\/a> in October 2024, sought from her then-new relationship with Wim Fissette. Fissette, who had Grand Slam-winning success with Kim Clijsters, Angelique Kerber and Osaka, is one of the most prominent coaches on the WTA Tour. Their uniting offered a window into the mutual considerations that players and coaches undertake when beginning a relationship, which representatives from both have explained over the last few weeks.<\/p>\n \u015awi\u0105tek, by her own admission an overthinker, spoke to Fissette by phone before meeting in person in Warsaw to discuss \u201cthe specifics of the technicalities and what he wanted to change in my game\u201d. At a news conference at the WTA Tour Finals last November, \u015awi\u0105tek said that Fissette \u201cadded some extra stuff that I haven\u2019t thought of\u201d as well as aligning with her own ideas for improvement.<\/p>\n On a personal level, \u015awi\u0105tek appreciated Fissette\u2019s<\/a> listening skills, which players and friends said is one of his defining characteristics as a coach in interviews with\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe communication was kind of smooth. He also let me talk a lot and he was able to listen to me and this was pretty fun,\u201d \u015awi\u0105tek said. Fissette told Eurosport when their partnership began that he wanted to work with \u015awi\u0105tek after splitting with former world No. 1 Osaka, who switched to working with Serena Williams\u2019 former coach Patrick Mouratoglou in September 2024 before this year hiring Tomasz Wiktorowski \u2014 who \u015awi\u0105tek split with, after four Grand Slam titles together, before hiring Fissette.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only because she is No. 1 in the world but also because of her personality, which is a role model for other tennis players,\u201d Fissette said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Coco-Gauff-Serve-scaled.jpg\")
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