McEnroe Grades His Coaching Work With Raonic
McEnroe Grades His Coaching Work With Raonic
All-time great also says he feels he could have done better
John McEnroe said he thinks he did a “reasonably solid” job during his recent coaching stint with top Canadian Milos Raonic. But, like players who regret decisions after a match, the ATP World Tour legend also said he’s second-guessed his coaching in the weeks that have followed his initial work with Raonic.
“You always feel like you can do things better,” McEnroe said on Sunday at the BB&T Atlanta Open. “I felt like I did everything I could in the period of time I was given, but then afterwards I started thinking maybe I could have said or done something else. So you never can quite feel like you’ve done that A+ job.”
McEnroe joined Raonic’s team in late May and stayed with him until after the Wimbledon final on 10 July. The 25 year old achieved a career breakthrough with McEnroe by his side. For the first time, Raonic reached a Grand Slam championship final (Wimbledon, l. to Murray). The 6’5” right-hander also works with Carlos Moya, former No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, and Riccardo Piatti.
“It’s nice to be around and if you can make that little bit of difference and help someone… that’s something I would take pride in,” McEnroe said.
The left-hander was in Atlanta to play an exhibition match with Sergi Bruguera, who has coached Richard Gasquet for the past three years. Bruguera agreed with McEnroe about second-guessing decisions. The 14-time tour-level champion also said the more time coaches can spend with players the more they can study them and learn how to best work with them.
“You need as much time as possible,” Bruguera said.
Raonic and Gasquet are part of a well-documented trend of current ATP World Tour stars hiring former greats to join their teams. Twelve-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champion Andy Murray has re-hired Ivan Lendl. Stan Wawrinka, No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, also worked with 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek during the recent grass-court season.
“I respect the young players out there that are trying to be the best they can be and maximise their potential,” McEnroe said. “Sergi can obviously bring something to the table from his own experience. I’d like to think that I could as well.”
Bruguera, like McEnroe with Raonic, has been a part of career breakthroughs with Gasquet. This season, the 30-year-old Frenchman won Montpellier for the third consecutive season. Gasquet also reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time (l. to Murray).
Bruguera said he has particularly tried to help Gasquet with being more professional and more solid throughout the entire season. “I was really focused on that,” he said. “You can always improve in every area.”
McEnroe said he plans to rejoin Raonic in the near future, most likely at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati.
“It’s a process,” McEnroe said of working with a player. “[You’re] always trying to think of things and ways to try to get to know the person as well as possible.”