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Why are female coaches so rare on the ATP Tour? Lucas Pouille reflects on it

lucas Pouille
Lucas Pouille durante la entrevista con CLAY
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A woman coaching a male tennis player? That has been very rare in the history of the sport. Lucas Pouille challenged tennis stereotypes and, trained by a woman, achieved the best result of his career: “It’s just a matter of knowledge.”

The Frenchman worked with Amélie Mauresmo, former world number one and current director of the French Open. It was during the time he reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and broke into the top 10. “I don’t care about the gender of the members of my team. I just want people who can bring good things to my game. A winning mindset. Amélie had it all,” Pouille reflected in this interview with CLAY.

Cases of elite tennis players guided by women are very limited. Andy Murray worked with Mauresmo herself between 2014 and 2016; Conchita Martínez led the Spanish Davis Cup team; and in the 90s, Tim Mayotte was coached by Billie Jean King.

In this one on one, the 30-year-old tennis player discusses that imbalance, how he felt after revealing his psychological struggles and issues with alcohol, and what being a father means to him.

Interview with Lucas Pouille

– You have been through periods of injuries and mental struggles. How are you feeling now?

– I’m very, very happy, very proud of myself.  it’s been 5 years that I’ve been able to compete in Wimbledon, so to qualify here this year, it’s just great, it’s just a great feeling, especially after the French Open, where I had a tight row in the qualis, lost first round, I didn’t play since then, I didn’t play tournament for a month, and coming here it’s great, and last year also I was last round qualis, leading 6-3, I got injured, so it’s just a great feeling.

– Do you feel you can ever reach again the level that got you into the Australian Open semifinals and the top 10?

– We’ll see! What is sure is that when you play like this, week after week, you build a lot of confidence in your game. You never know what’s going to happen, I don’t know if I will be able to play again some Grand Slam quarter finals, like I did in London or New York… semis at Melbourne. What I know is that I’ll give everything I have to stay as long as I can in the top 100 and to go as far as possible again.

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Lucas Pouille
In 2019, Lucas Pouille made it to the semis of the Australian Open. He lost against Djokovic.

– You reached the peak of your career while working with Amelie Mauresmo. It’s very uncommon for a male tennis player to have a female coach.

– I don’t know why it’s not common, for me it doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman. It’s only about knowledge, and for me Amelie was the right person at that time. She brought something extra to my tennis. I don’t care about the gender of the members of my work team. I just want people who are able to bring me good things to my game, to my career, positive energy and positive mindset. A winning mindset. Amelie had everything, so for me she was definetly the right coach.

– Female coaches seem to be invisible in the eyes of so many ATP Tour players.

– Maybe we’ll see more and more women coming soon, but it’s true that on the opposite way doesn’t happen like that. In the WTA Tour there are a lot of men coaching women, but not a lot of women coaching men, so maybe that will change.

– From your experience, would you encourage your colleagues to try working with female coaches?

– I’d encourage players and young players to be surrounded by the right people, and if the right people is a woman, then you have to choose a woman, and that’s it. You know, you can pick a male coach or fitness trainer and they could be very bad; you can choose a lady to be your manager, she maybe work well or maybe not. One woman could be a great mental coach, a guy might be a good massage therapist… males and females are the same, so I just advise the young generation to be surrounded by the right people, because it’s important.

Lucas Pouille Amelie Mauresmo
Lucas Pouille and Amelie Mauresmo worked together from 2018 to 2020. Alongside the former top 1, the Frenchman reached his peak // CORINNE DUBREUIL /FFT

– Looking back on the award-winning interview you gave to L’Equipe, how much helped you to publicly speak about your depression, mental struggles and problems with alcohol?

– Well, for me was so important, because you know, being an athlete, being a tennis player, you always have to give a good image of yourself. You always want to be proud on the court, not to show too much emotions, showing that you are strong… but people have to understand that it’s okay to sometimes feel bad, to feel weak, to feel sad sometimes. We are human beings, and it’s important to talk about it, and to feel free, and not to feel guilty, or ashamed to talk, that’s important.

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– Don’t you think in tennis talking about the own weakneses is still a very big taboo?

– In life in general it’s a taboo, it’s a big taboo. The tennis players are imrpoving on that, but, you know, every day you’re seeing everybody, you say ‘hey, how are you’, and the first answer is like, I’m good, but actually everybody is lying. You cannot be good every day, every single day of your life, so it’s normal not to tell the truth to anyone, because you’re not going to talk about your problem to anybody. The good things is that more and more athletes are talking about it, and it’s important.

– How much fatherhood has helped you in your life, in your career?

– I see life a bit differently now. My main goal in life is to be a good dad, a perfect dad, if that exists. I want to be as good as possible for her, I would love her to see me play, I would love her to be proud of myself. My approach of the game is different, the pressure I put on myself is different as well. I’m more detached, I don’t care too much about the results, I don’t care much aboout the opinion the people might have on me. That doesn’t matter to me now, in the past all of that was important. Not anymore.

– Would you like her to be a tennis player?

– If she loves it and she has the capacity, then yes, because tennis gives you a wonderful life, but it’s also a tough life. You have a lot of ups and downs, it always depends on you… but I’m happy to think that she will do whatever she wants to do, and I will encourage her, no matter what, to follow her passions. I’ll be supporting her if it’s arts, sports, science, whatever she wants to do, I’ll be behind.


If you enjoyed this interview with Lucas Pouille, check out this link to our site for many more interviews with the top stars of tennis.

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