Nick Kyrgios has questioned the ATP Tour’s decision to allow off-court coaching on a trial basis for the latter half of this year.
The ATP announced its decision to trial off-court coaching in the second half of the year, with players set to receive instructions in qualifying and main draw matches in tournaments including the US Open and the ATP Finals.
The Australian, however, sees the decision as divesting the sport of its beauty where the players have to figure things out on their own in the heat of the battle.
Kyrgios was replying to Patrick Mouratoglou, who coached Serena Williams and now coaches Simona Halep, as he congratulated the ATP for “‘legalizing’ a practice that has been going on at almost every match for decades”.
“Completely disagree. Loses one of the only unique traits that no other sport had,” Kyrgios said on Twitter
“The player had to figure out things on his own. That was the beauty of it. What happens if a high profile player versus a low ranked player who doesn’t have or (cannot) afford a coach?”
The trial is set to commence from the week of July 11 and will run through to the season-ending ATP Finals in November.
Mouratoglou was involved in perhaps the most infamous incident of off-court coaching at the 2018 US Open final when Williams was given a warning for a coaching violation.
Mouratoglou had gestured in the stands during the dramatic decider against eventual winner Naomi Osaka. But the 52-year-old coach said later that he would do it again, describing it as the “most stupid rule” as nobody was penalized.
Nick Kyrgios has been hitting the headlines once again in recent days, the least of which have to do with criticizing ATP’s off-court coaching rule. The Australian recently became the first athlete to sign with Naomi Osaka’s sports agency.
