Serena Williams' tweet fuels rumours of split with Patrick Mouratoglou
Serena Williams issues a cryptic tweet underlining her independence fuelling rumours of a split with coach-cum-partner Patrick Mouratoglou
9:39PM GMT 25 Feb 2014
2 Comments
Rumours of a cooling of relations between Serena Williams and her coach-cum-partner, Patrick Mouratoglou, grew stronger on Tuesday night after Williams issued a cryptic tweet underlining her independence.
“Me. Mine. Alone. Myself. I. One. Solo. Unaccompanied.” So read the message Williams posted on Twitter.
She and Mouratoglou had been working together last week in Dubai, but then travelled to opposite sides of the Atlantic after her unexpected semi-final defeat to Alize Cornet.
Williams’s tweet may be something or nothing – and there was no response from the Mouratoglou camp on Tuesday night – but it does fit in with the mood of a shaky season so far.
The world No 1 started 2014 on an extraordinary roll, having won 32 of 33 matches in the second half of last year. But she went out of theAustralian Open in the fourth round, after suffering back trouble, and then had to sit out a Premier-tier event in Doha because of the injury.
Cornet, the world No 26 from France, is the lowest-ranked player Williams has lost to since her first-round exit to Virginie Razzano in the 2012 French Open – the defeat that sent her out to practise at Mouratoglou’s academy on the outskirts of Paris in the first place.
“I’m a bit embarrassed,” she said on Saturday. “I don’t think I have made that many errors in a match in three, maybe four years.”
Williams’s connection with Mouratoglou, just over 18 months ago, was the beginning of a renaissance in her game that saw her win four of the next six grand slams. Although neither ever admitted a romantic dimension to their relationship, neither did they expressly deny it, and Williams’s bitter rival, Maria Sharapova, made caustic reference last summer to the fact that Mouratoglou was married.
When the going was good, Williams spoke about how she was feeling more relaxed, and her fitness levels improved visibly. This may explain why 2013 proved to be the best season – judging by a win-loss record of 78-4 – of her career.
This year, however, Williams did not attend the annual pre-season training camp in Mauritius with Mouratoglou’s other players. Tuesday's tweet was only the latest hint that they may be spending less time together than before.
