British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Var · Futures qualifying

Weeks 35-36 - US Open - Flushing Meadows, New York, NY, USA (hard) - MAIN DRAW

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Var wrote:
Are cracks in the Roig coaching partnership starting to show? After saying how Emma was enjoying being on court and practising , now it is her teams fault for spending too much time on the practice court. Mmmm.

I must admit, one of my thoughts was whether another coach was going to get the chop. I hope that she starts owning her part in this journey.

indiana · Tennis legend

Helen40 wrote:
Var wrote:
Are cracks in the Roig coaching partnership starting to show? After saying how Emma was enjoying being on court and practising , now it is her teams fault for spending too much time on the practice court. Mmmm.
I must admit, one of my thoughts was whether another coach was going to get the chop. I hope that she starts owning her part in this journey.

Oh heck! Who's saying this? Yes, I wonder about voices in her ear. Can folk ruddy not see how she has been progressing?!

If this is kneejerk thoughts based on one match against an in form Rybakina, then it's even more ridiculous!!

indiana · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
My biggest concern with coaching is that it becomes a not level playing field. The higher up the game you go, the more you can afford a coach and a good coach. Or a coach that is more vocal and less quiet.

A challenger level player may not afford one at all or have one that isnt as good in so many ways.

It should be all about the player in individual events - team events are team events and that is fine - but I personally would never allow any coaching.
But of course it's not a level playing field
Having good coaching off the court is equally important and that's not a level playing field
Having the NTC, with physios, and food nutritionists, and amazing machines to track body movements, and whatever, is available to some, and not others
There's no reason to suddenly focus on one thing and ignore all the rest
And, after all, any one can have a 'noisy' coach - I'd go and be one for the price of an airline ticket ! (Just in case anyone's reading this, I can be very noisy, French-style )
And, the 'good tennis' argument is also important

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Saturday 30th of August 2025 07:09:16 AM
Agreed - but in life lines get drawn. And my line would be on court coaching in this respect. Once the player is on the court, it should be player v player. No coaching, and no having chats with coaches in a toilet break! Toilet breaks should be for having a wee!

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Saturday 30th of August 2025 07:31:39 AM
Yes - but then you risk sacrificing good tennis - as we saw yesterday
It's not straight-forward, in my view

Agree with CD on this. Seeing it in action more and more I have certainly moved from being anti the idea of on court coaching. It doesn't have to be player vs player with no on court coaching ( and ultimately the player is still hitting the shots ), it can be a partnership, it can be quite interesting. If the end result is good ( better? ) tennis and it's not intrusive to my enjoyment of that tennis, I've no big problem with it.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

I wonder if vocal coaching is allowed throughout the whole match, how long before an animated vocal cheerleading coach jump sover the barriers and starts remonstrating with umpires when a point or decision goes against their player.

I think it could lead to tennis becoming a bit more vocal like football and for fans to not stay quiet between points, if coaches are shouting their mouths off throughout, then surely the crowd will follow their lead and shout things between and even during points.

I'm not sure how I feel about the coaches being allowed to shout out instructions on every point, but some have been doing it for years - i was on an outside court at Wimbledon some years ago when next to me Rauxandra Dragomir's coach shouted out loud and lengthy instructions in Romanian on every point and eventually the umpire cottoned on to what was happening, and Dragomir was subsequently fined and I believe her coach got a court ban for the remainder of Dragomir's Wimbledon tournament that year. My guess is that was about 25 years ago, so this is not a new phenomenon or problem.

On a small arena, it would be very easy for a vocal coach to shout out loud instructions on every point and even while points are taking place, and perhaps from a spectator point of view, the question is does it feel right - does it detract from the atmosphere and should it be allowed to happen. I'm not at all sure that it should be allowed, but maybe there is a case for allowing coaches to speak to players at the end of each sets for a designated period of time - maybe two minutes - a bit like a mini halftime for football managers.

-- Edited by Andy Parker on Sunday 31st of August 2025 12:02:22 AM