Coach Patrick Mouratoglou admitted that 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams needs to tweak her game after a disappointing third-round exit in the Australian Open recently, BBC reported.
Williams, since coming back after giving birth to her daughter, has reached finals of Grand Slam but has fallen just short of equalling the all-time record set by Margaret Court. This year started on a good note for the 38-year-old after she won her first title in three years – at the Auckland Classic.
Williams’s coach, Mouratoglou, admitted that the duo need to ring in some changes in the way they approach the Majors: “We have to accept the fact that it is not working,” said Mouratoglou.
“Maybe come back with a different angle, a different strategy and different goals so she can make it. She does feel positive, but she feels negative too because it is a failure when she doesn’t win a Grand Slam.”
Mouratoglou says that Williams, widely regarded as the greatest to play the game, believes she can add more Slams to her glittering tally despite the emergence of a wave of talented youngsters making a mark in the WTA circuit.
Mouratoglou said: “We have to face reality, but she is positive that she can make it otherwise she probably wouldn’t be on a tennis court anymore. She believes she can make it and I believe it too. She’s not that far, but we have to change a few things.”
The coach, though, thinks that she is not far away from lifting another Major crown. After coming back, Williams has reached four finals.
Mouratoglou added: “She had everything to retire, 23 Grand Slam titles. But she decided to come back, she decided to make all the efforts, the physical efforts, the mental efforts, to come back to the game, with the goal to score more Grand Slams and beat the all-time record.
“It’s difficult to know how many chances she will have, I don’t know how long she is going to be able to play, but being able to reach four Grand Slam finals says a lot about her level, and she’s not that far.
“Her level is good enough but we have to understand what is going on and why she is not able to win one. There is a big difference between reaching a final and winning one.”