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Last year around this time, Simona Halep was about to retire.
The former number 1 in the women’s world had announced his withdrawal from the 2021 edition of the French Open due to a calf injury. Later that season, she also retired from Wimbledon and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“I felt exhausted and I felt there was no chance of me being in the top,” Halep told DailyExpertNews Sport’s Christina Macfarlane in an exclusive interview with her new coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. “It was really hard to look on the bright side.”
After falling outside the coveted top 10 of the world rankings for the first time since January 2014, Halep lost his love for tennis.
But since she started working with Mouratoglou earlier this year, Halep says her passion for the sport has been rekindled.
“I didn’t really expect that because I’m not very open to people and it’s not easy for me to trust someone. But it was just a great connection since the first moment I met him,” Halep says of Mouratoglou.
“I was almost done before I got here because I didn’t have that fire anymore and I didn’t trust that I would be able to play at the highest level again. So when I came here, I found it and rediscovered why I play tennis,” she adds. “I play tennis because I love it… He brought that fire back.”
In April, Mouratoglou announced on social media that he would be coaching Halep full-time, after she attended his prestigious training academy in France ahead of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.
“I always enjoy watching her play. I think she’s got an incredible game, so she’s super exciting as a player,” Mouratoglou told DailyExpertNews Sport. “She played great, but she could play a lot more. I saw the progress she could make.”
Mouratoglou, known by his nickname ‘The Coach’, is one of the most sought after tennis instructors.
He started coaching in 2005, teamed up with Marcos Baghdatis in the junior circuit and helped him become the world No. 1 at the youth level, according to his official website.
A year later Baghdatis reached the final of the Australian Open before losing to Roger Federer and that same season he also reached the semi-final of Wimbledon.
Since then, Mouratoglou has helped a range of promising young players improve their game, including Grigor Dimitrov, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and most notably 23-time grand slam champion Serena Williams, the website adds.
The secret of his success? “Of course the passion is the most important. (If) the players don’t have the passion, they won’t achieve anything great,” Mouratolgou said. “So that’s the key.”
“People also have times in their lives when they might lose their love for the game for a while or have less love for the game,” he adds. “I don’t think she (Halep) lost it.”
Although Romanian Halep has 23 singles titles to her name – including two Grand Slam victories – she had to adapt to a particularly rigorous form of drill at Mouratoglou Academy.
She spent two weeks starting a new workout schedule at 8:30 a.m., something she told reporters she “never did in my life,” the WTA reported.
“I did it with pleasure and I did it easily. So that made me think I still like it and I can still do it. So if I’m healthy I think I can play a good game,” the WTA website said.
In addition to her physical rehabilitation, Halep has worked with Mouratoglou to restore her self-confidence.
“He’s super open, so it’s super easy to talk to him,” she told DailyExpertNews. “I am very emotional. I have a lot of fears in general and I usually doubt myself. And it was easy for me to express myself as I am.”
When Mouratoglou appeared on the Netflix series “The Playbook” in September 2020, he spoke about how a player’s mental strength can make or break his or her ability to become a champion.
The series follows world-renowned sports coaches as they share their personal rules for success both inside and outside the arena.
“Everyone has limits, and everyone’s limits are not technical, tactical or physical. They are mental,” Mouratoglou told the documentary.
“And if you don’t think like a champion, you don’t act like a champion and you don’t win like a champion. So it is very important to make sure that the mind is working properly.”
Mouratoglou tells DailyExpertNews he has a similar approach to rebuilding a player’s psychological resilience as legendary football manager José Mourinho, who also appeared on the Netflix series.
“He said something like, ‘Football starts with the foot, continues with the heart and ends with the head.'”
“The head is the most important… because if you don’t believe deeply that you can achieve something, you are not going to go all out. You go half way. You’re going to find reasons not to do things. You are going to look for excuses’, says Mouratoglou.
“I think a big part of my job is to help people, in this case Simona, believe in themselves and in their ability to achieve what they want,” he adds. “I always tell Simona how strong she is mentally because I really believe it.
“She made my job super easy in a way by being so open and trusting me so much.”
Mouratoglou is no stranger to reinventing players who have hit rock bottom.
In 2012, he approached a turning point in his career when he started coaching Williams, who had just suffered an unprecedented defeat at Roland Garros against France’s Virginie Razzano. It was the first time in Williams’ career that she lost in the first round of a major competition.
She was also looking for a grand slam win, having not won a major in two years.
Mouratoglou and Williams were dubbed the “Dynamic Duo” on tour, achieving 10 grand slam victories together, as well as a women’s singles title at the 2012 London Olympics.
“I’m super proud of what we’ve done with Serena. Now, of course, I’m super grateful for those 10 years that were incredible,” says Mouratoglou. “She’s trusted me for 10 years, something you don’t often see in the tennis world.”
Williams has not played since she retired from her first round Wimbledon match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich in June 2021, in which she suffered a leg injury.
“It’s not easy to tell someone you’ve worked with for ten years that you’re going to start something with someone else,” Mouratoglou adds. “It’s a 10-year relationship…where you share so many things and so many emotions and so many moments.”
When Mouratoglou and Halep speak to DailyExpertNews, they prepare for Roland Garros, where the 30-year-old Romanian will play in the first round against Croatian Ana Konjuh.
Halep has fond memories of the French Open, having won her first grand slam title in Paris after beating Sloane Stephens in 2018.
“The French Open is my favorite grand slam,” she says. “I like the city. I feel amazing. I like the atmosphere. So everything comes together and I just feel great. It’s going to be a big challenge, this tournament, for me. I am mentally ready. I’m ready to do my best.”
“I really thought I’d be done by 30,” Halep says. “I was wrong.”
“I want to play for a few more years. I feel I can do it,” she adds. “My body is fine. You know, I feel healthy. I feel like my energy level is high. So I see no reason to stop now.”
However, there is one player who could stand in the way of a third Grand Slam title for Halep.
Poland’s Iga Swiatek has seen a meteoric rise over the past year to become the world’s number 1.
In April, she took her fourth consecutive title of the 2022 season at the Stuttgart Open final, taking her winning streak to 23 matches.
At just 20 years old, Swiatek has shown no sign of hesitation. If she wins the French Open, she will equal Venus Williams’ record of 35 consecutive wins this millennium.
“Over the past month, Iga has shown a lot of stability physically, mentally and tennis. She is super solid in everything. That’s why she won so much. But I think everyone can be beaten,” Mouratoglou said.
And Mouratoglou is convinced that Halep’s mental strength can rival Swiatek.
“She’s also a great player, but what makes her special is the fact that she’s extremely strong mentally,” he says. “I have the feeling that she also believes in herself and that the combination can work wonders.”
