Roger Federer – “I’m Against On-Court Coaching”

The second seed, Roger Federer will be taking the Centre Court today at Wimbledon Championships 2019, after the defending champion, Angelique Kerber wraps up with her opening round match. The Swiss is against the on-court coaching culture which is practiced extensively in women’s tennis. And this year’s US Open has allowed the players to receive coaching from the players’ box.

“I don’t know the latest,” Roger Federer addressed the on-court coaching concept in tennis. “In Halle, I heard you can speak to the player from the player box at the (US) Open. This is maybe not happening anymore. So, nothing is sure,”

Tennis is about one person representing the army of seven to eight people behind his/her. The individual sport tests the caliber of the athlete and how they tackle the situation solely if something goes haywire. 

“But in my opinion, we shouldn’t have on-court in tennis. I’m a big believer in that. I know some people are completely on my side. Some people are ‘Why not? Every other sport has it’. I guess you can see both angles,” Roger Federer continued.

“I think the player gets his advice (before the match). Then it’s how much can he remember, how much can he deal with at the moment, figure it out yourself a little bit?” Roger Federer continued. The amount of work done by the player and his/her team before the beginning of the match is certainly an examination for the team. Hence pep talk in-between matches shouldn’t be practiced. 

On-court coaching might sometimes break the flair of the players in the match and might have negative consequences. Also, in the interim of rain delays, the players get in touch with their team and World Number three, Federer believes that even that should be eradicated from tennis.

“I’m against on-court coaching in any shape or form except for rain delays, whatever you call it, when it gets too late, gets carried over to the next day. I don’t think it’s necessary, to be honest,” Roger Federer added.

“Then we go deeper into the sport where maybe I can obviously afford more coaching than others. Is that fair? It is what it is. I think it puts everybody on an even playing field if there’s no coaching.”