A huge playground, Patrick Mouratoglou*'s academy, nestled in the heart of Sophia Antipolis, is always full.
Budding champions, snowshoeing stars and fledgling beginners meet there, all driven by the same desire: to get to the net.
A keen eye and dazzling ideas, this atypical coach definitely wants to do more than one service... His approach?
Transmit the tennis culture, emancipate it from dogmas so that all bodies gain freedom and the spirit in vital impetus.
Catch the ball on the bounce.
In video, Serena Williams is the star of a committed ad for the Super Bowl
1.
Think holistically
“Like yoga, tennis helps fight stress.
His introspective strength, which never falls into egomania, is remarkable.
Playing allows you to refocus, to refine your intuitions, to forget your worries.
Paying attention to his body, his breath, the texture of the ground, the feeling of the ball… Players often tell me that by focusing on the latter, they see it much bigger than it is!
2.
Connect body and brain
“By magnifying gestures, tennis puts our body into language.
You can express yourself fully thanks to the forces of agility it summons: balance, optimal coordination, momentum, braking, changes of direction.
All this dynamic is beneficial, because it stimulates the brain in a random way.
Start with scales, like in music.
Practice your forehand, backhand, and then your serve.
The goal is to make perfect exchanges to stimulate immunity and the mind.
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Patrick Mouratoglou, coach of Serena Williams and founder of the Mouratoglou Academy.
SP PICTURE
3.
Observing to understand yourself better
“A match is a conversation with each other, a healthy competition.
As a very shy child, I learned by observing others, which is the key to a better understanding of the world.
Few people know how to put themselves in the place of others.
In tennis, you can study a body other than your own.
As in a game of chess, you learn beyond tactics, to read
body language
: a tremendous asset in professional life.”
4.
Have fun
“We can do sport out of obligation, to maintain ourselves.
Tennis, in contrast to this spartan view, is incredibly playful.
If you finish a game, you want to come back to it because you had fun.
This feeling of joy anchored in any child's imagination is essential.
Start after 40?
Did you leave your dreams of hitting the ball in the locker room?
Good news.
“Discipline is not just for the youngest,” says tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
By starting later, we progress by focusing on the pleasure of the game rather than on high performance.
It teaches you to get out of your comfort zone.
The ideal?
Take a few lessons with a coach to learn the key gestures.
Once acquired, we progress much faster than we think.
5.
Celebrate your femininity
“Between racket and women, it's a love story.
Suzanne Lenglen, in the 1920s, was a pioneer!
Like a champion, she participated in the emancipation of the sexes, just like Billie Jean King in the 1970s or Serena Williams today.
Moreover, it is the No. 1 women's sport in the world, the one where professional players make the best living.
6.
Develop your strengths
“By a negative logic, many coaches and many players focus above all on eradicating their weak points.
It is certainly important to know how to recognize them.
But as a counterpoint, the technicality of tennis must serve to enhance its qualities.
As in life, it is better to have immense qualities and immense faults than to be average everywhere.
When you value your strengths, you are definitely happier, you have a benevolent look at yourself.
7.
Socialize
“Tennis succeeds where society sometimes fails: it unites, creates links.
The clubs, real places of life, promote exchanges between enthusiasts.
Putting your children in tennis is helping them to live with others, teaching them to bounce back in school or professional life.
8.
Sculpt your silhouette
“It adapts to all morphologies, works on postural coherence without excessively developing the arms, its ultracardio side tending to refine the whole body.
Its great asset?
Make shapely buttocks.
And for good reason: when you play, knees bent buttocks slightly back, you do squats.
De facto, hundreds per game.
Be careful to breathe well, many play in apnea.
To avoid oxygen debt, blow hard with each strike.
You can scream too!
Like Monica Seles, the first to do it on a course.
Plus, it's fun."
In the coach's bag
“A perfume I will never part with”: Allure Homme Sport, Chanel.
“The facial treatment my wife chooses for me”: Super Moisturizing Gel, Clarins Men.
“My anti-dry body balm”: Atoderm Intensive Baume, Bioderma.
9.
Release your emotions
“I am campaigning for a less sanitized tennis than that of today, a living tennis like in the 1990s!
On the course, you don't have to be perfect.
This is the time to express yourself, to cry, to shout or to let your joy explode.
It's also working on the expressive capacity of your body.
*mouratoglou.com
