Plenty of well-known male players have transitioned to part-time coaching, and TAKING A CUE FROM THEM are a handful of female coaches, who have been guiding players ranked in the WTA’s top 20.
Lindsay Davenport sat on the edge of her seat in the coaching box at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, watching her player, 15th-seeded Madison Keys, compete in the U.S. Open.
Davenport, a former world No. 1 and winner of three Grand Slam singles titles, is among a handful of female coaches in professional tennis. Keys is one of three players ranked in the WTA’s top 20with a female coach, joining French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and 20th-ranked Daria Gavrilova.
Kim Clijsters is an example of a former player offering expertise during Grand Slam tournaments: The woman Keys beat in the first round at Flushing Meadows, Elise Mertens of Belgium, trains at Clijsters’ academy. During Keys’ victory over Mertens, the ESPN cameras frequently showed the reactions of Davenport and Clijsters.
“You’ve got to see it to be it,” former player Billie JeanKing said. “The more coaches, the better. And the more girls that see it on TV, the better.”
Mary Joe Fernandez, a former player, US Fed Cup coach and current ESPN commentator, agreed that more exposure helps, “especially when a Lindsay or Martina (Navratilova) or (Amelie) Mauresmo, high-profile players, become coaches.”
Plenty of well-known male players have transitioned to part time coaching — Andre Agassi is the latest, spending time working with Novak Djokovic at the French Open and Wimbledon.
A winner of 55 career titles in 17 years on the tour, Davenport, 41, knows the pressure players face on and off the court and how to deal with injuries. Keys missed the first two months of the season because of left wrist surgery; she’s now returning to form as a powerful baseliner, similar to her coach.
Fernandez said whether the coach is male or female, it’s more about “the right fit.”
“The chemistry has to be right,” she said.
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