The role of a coach has also changed at Wimbledon

Tallon Grepes occasionally seeks eye contact with Kristof Vliegen. Nevertheless, the Dutchman on court 15 of The All England Club is largely on his own during the match that started on Tuesday morning and ended on Wednesday evening due to rain showers. His Belgian coach was allowed to give instructions for the first time at Wimbledon, but that could not prevent the Greek track from being eliminated in three sets by the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.

Until recently, giving minimal directions was prohibited. As one of the few sports, actual coaching was not allowed in tennis. Under penalty of a warning, penalty points or even disqualification. In almost all other tournaments that has long been a thing of the past, but now coaching is also allowed along the courts of the All England Club. In a limited form that is. A coach is not allowed to utter more than a few sentences if he or she is at least on the same half of the court. Because shouting over long distances is still at Wimbledon not done.

The Dutchman Raemon Sluiter hardly enjoyed it as coach of Elina Svitolina in the first round against Venus Williams. “There was so much noise along Center Court. I couldn’t even reach her with a megaphone,” says Sluiter. “On the other hand, we shouldn’t make it bigger than it is. I may say something, but she can hardly say anything back. That line is very thin. Because it is not the intention to have whole conversations.”

This raises the question of what the coach’s role actually is during a tennis match. According to Sluiter, it is not easy to give an unequivocal answer to this. “Of course it makes a difference whether you assist a girl of nineteen or an experienced player like Svitolina,” says the 45-year-old Dutchman in London. “Svitolina is a smart woman who has to think for herself on the track. And I try to help her with that as much as possible. That is my role.”

Shutter and Svitolina have discussed the tactics to be followed just after a training session, when it becomes known that the match in the second round against the Belgian Elise Mertens will be postponed for a day due to the many rain breaks. Shutter normally does not speak to the media before a game, but now he throws his bag on the floor. As if some kind of tension falls from him. Shutter: „Playing yourself is the best thing for a tennis player. As a coach you can match that tension a bit if you are sitting on the sidelines at a major match at a grand slam tournament. That’s why I like this.”

Remarkable relationship

Shutter tries to convey his own experience in a way that best suits his players. In the past he did that differently with the Dutch Kiki Bertens than with Tallon Grepes. And with Svitolina it goes in the way that the tennis star from Ukraine envisions. “She determines what we do,” explains Sluiter. “But of course she didn’t come to me for nothing. She also saw how I worked with Bertens. As a coach, I have earned some respect for that. Things are going very well between Svitolina and me. If you don’t understand each other, collaboration is not possible.”

Shutter refers to the curious relationship that exists in tennis between players and coaches. The tennis players pay the coaches out of pocket, making them the employer of the one who has to tell them what to do.

Shutter: „I am convinced that more than 50 percent of the coaches do not dare to say everything. Mostly out of fear of losing their job. Because not everyone in tennis is financially independent. I’ll give it to you if your wife and children have to live on your salary. Are you going to send the message that someone has to change at the risk of getting fired? Money is not the most important thing to me. I always say what it is. Only then can I do my job.”

Robin Haase, who will compete in doubles at Wimbledon with Austrian Philipp Oswald and recently coached Swedish tennis player Mikael Ymer, agrees with Sluiter’s words. “The tennis player pays, so he is the boss,” says Haase, who traveled the world with a coach for years in a row in the past. “It was bizarre that I spent about 200,000 euros a year on costs for a coach, while I was not allowed to use it on the track. In that respect, it is good that instructions can now be given without penalties.”

Although Haase himself as a player was not pleased that someone else determined the tactics for him. “I was the tactician myself and always determined my own way of playing. I could use little input from others. But I wanted to be able to fall back on my coach when things didn’t go as planned. Then I wanted him to push me in the right direction. I paid him for that. To help me. Now that I’m a coach myself, it’s strange that you have less power than the player. As a coach you have to make sure that you can discuss everything. Only then can you do it well and it is still up to the player what he wants to do with it.”