{"id":669319,"date":"2026-05-28T03:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T03:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/669319\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T03:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T03:20:15","slug":"davidovich-fokina-coach-puerta-quit-without-telling-me-tennis-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/669319\/","title":{"rendered":"Davidovich Fokina: Coach Puerta Quit\u2014Without Telling Me \u2013 Tennis Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Photo credit: Matthew Calvis<\/p>\n

Grand Slam tennis is all about adjustments.<\/p>\n

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina faced a major one when he says his coach, Mariano Puerta, vanished before today\u2019s Roland Garros second-round match quitting without a word face-to-face.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The 21st-seeded Spaniard lost his coach then lost his second rounder to Thiago Agustin Tirante 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, 6-3 today.<\/p>\n

Former French Open finalist Puerta was coaching Davidovich Fokina during his epic five-set, four hour, five-minute triumph over Damir Dzumhur on Sunday.<\/p>\n

After that win coach and player shared lunch together before Puerta pulled the rip cord, texted Davidovich Fokina he was quitting as coach and promptly flew to Miami, according to the Spanish baseliner.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the game against Dzumhur we had lunch and then I went to calm down a bit. He said he felt bad and was going to the hotel,\u201d Davidovich Fokina told Spanish media in comments published by AS.com<\/a>. \u201cEverything seemed normal, you know, I was tired. Nothing happened between us or within the team. Two or three hours later he sent me a message telling me that he would not continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is that he didn\u2019t say anything to anyone on the team. He just took a flight and went to Miami without saying a word to us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Spaniard said he later learned this isn\u2019t the first time Coach Puerta has bailed suddenly on a player. Puerta\u2019s extreme exit strategy, \u201cfailed the whole team,\u201d Davidovich Fokina said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I heard that he had already done it other times with other players, so it seems normal for him,\u201d Davidovich Fokina said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to go after anyone if he decides to leave and not continue until the end of the tournament. It\u2019s not my problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is an adult and can make his own decisions. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to respond to that message, but as a person he failed the whole team. There is not much more to say.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Devoted French Open fans will recall the left-handed Puerta\u2019s Cinderella run to the 2005 Roland Garros final where he fell to a 19-year-old Rafa Nadal, who captured his maiden Roland Garros crown en route to constructing his King of Clay career.<\/p>\n

In December of 2005, Puerta was hit with an eight-year ban from tennis for a doping violation. He appealed and won a reduced suspension of two years.<\/p>\n

Davidovich Fokina say does not wish Puerta ill will despite the fact he claims his former coach left him without notice then blocked both the Spaniard and his wife from calling him.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, we didn\u2019t fight. Everything was normal,\u201d Davidovich Fokina told Spanish media. \u201cDuring the game we also communicated very well. I don\u2019t know what to say because it was strange. But hey, nothing can surprise me anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot has happened to me throughout my career. I thought he was a really good person and then I found out that he had done this before with other players. That\u2019s when I understood that maybe the mistake was mine for hiring him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a very good relationship. There were never any tensions or problems. He has even blocked the phone for both me and my wife. But I don\u2019t want to give it more importance either. He makes his life and I make mine. I don\u2019t wish him anything bad. He was a good person until this happened. If he works with another player, after this press conference they will know that maybe he can leave in difficult moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2021 Roland Garros quarterfinalist Davidovich Fokina has failed to survive the French Open second round in six of eight career appearances in Paris.<\/p>\n

Now, the world No. 23 will continue his quest for a maiden Tour-level title without Puerta in his box.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, May 27, 2026Photo credit: Matthew Calvis Grand Slam tennis is all about adjustments.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-669319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}