Mouratoglou on Halep – “The more you know her, the more you love her”

Wimbledon 2022 is the second Grand Slam played by Simona Halep under the coaching of Patrick Mouratoglou, and the two are making it a memorable experience.

Patrick Mouratoglou and Simona Halep, Wimbledon 2022 || © Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic

Cédric Rouquette

July 7, 2022

The high level played by semi-finalist Simon Halep at Wimbledon is partly due to the association between the Romanian champion and the French coach Patrick Mouratoglou, she told reporters during her press conference on Wednesday. Halep points out that their association, which started in April, has helped her to be confident again in her tennis.

“First he’s a great person inside. We really connected from first minute, started Halep after dismantling Amanda Anisimova (6-1, 6-4). “As a coach, he talks super simply but super powerful. I take everything he tells me in a positive way, and I can actually put in practical. So it’s easy for me to get the information and to display it.”

“Working with her is an opportunity for me. She has a great personality, really worth being discovered.”
Patrick Mouratoglou on Simona Halep

Halep says trust and confidence is high between the pair.

“He trusted in myself that I still can be a good player,” said Halep, who lost at the second round in Roland-Garros after suffering a panic attack during her match against China’s Zheng Qinwen. “He sent me somehow this confidence, and I started to believe in myself again that I have that chance to be a good player again.”

Mouratoglou – “As Mike Tyson mentions…”

On the French TV channel Be In Sport, Mouratoglou insisted on the personal relationship between the two to explain Halep’s level of performance.

“Her and I are enjoying a lot what we are doing,” Mouratoglou, who is a Tennis Majors’ co-founder and pundit (see The Eye of the Coach), said in his native French. “We get on really well. Being on the court, waking up in the morning to work is a pleasure for both of us. As Mike Tyson mentions, no boxer is more dangerous than a happy boxer. Here we have a happy tennis player.

“That is, in a way, why she’s playing so well. She’s a fabulous player. Working with her is an opportunity for me. She has a great personality, really worth being discovered. The more you know her, the more you love her.”

“He thinks everything is possible” (Halep)

Halep says she feeds off of Mouratoglou’s motivation. He helps her to believe in herself, she says.

“He thinks that everything is possible,” noted Halep during her press conference on Wednesday. “So this helps me to trust a lot in what I’m doing.”

Halep has won her latest 12 matches at Wimbledon, her 2019 triumph included, and has yet to lose a set in 2022. She will play Elena Rybakina on Thursday in semi-final action.

Mouratoglou sets “no limit” on his player in her quest to return to the top of the sport, as he told Tennis Majors earlier in the year.