Almost exactly ten years ago, Aravane Rezai was the woman on whom the greatest hopes of French tennis fans rested: Rezai was ranked 15th in the WTA world rankings in 2010, the further rise seemed only a matter of time. Also because the 33-year-old had a man at his side at the time who is now almost a trainer guru: Patrick Mouratoglou.

But what looked like a player-coach dream couple became more and more a nightmare in the course of just over a year of cooperation, as Rezai explained in an interview with the Spanish portal puntodebreak.com a few days ago. The adventure started in Bali in 2009. “Everything was right in Bali. I didn't feel any pressure, I was able to play my best tennis against the best players. The better I felt on the pitch, the happier I was outside of it. I also invited my friend Patrick Mouratoglou to this tournament and we enjoyed the time together. I won the tournament and we decided to work together. ”

Mouratoglou wanted complete control

In the beginning it went like clockwork. “Patrick introduced a real work schedule to my team. I was on the pitch with my father eight hours a day, but Patrick brought me a touch of professionalism: one hour of fitness, one hour of massage ... He also got me very good training places, good hitting partners, etc. "

But, as is not uncommon in the history of women's tennis, the relationship between the new coach and the coaching father became a problem. “My father was very strong. Sometimes he was really possessive, he defended me no matter what means. I have already noticed that Patrick wanted to calm this situation. "The problem was that Mouratoglou could not be satisfied with the tasks assigned to him:" He wanted complete control. "

Too much pressure for Rezai

The most difficult thing was the tournament in Madrid, which Rezai should bring with the final victory against Jelena Jankovic the greatest success of her career. “In Madrid I was under enormous pressure to win the tournament. I couldn't withdraw, couldn't use my phone, not my credit card, nothing at all. It was like being in prison. I got up at six in the morning and went jogging for an hour or two, then did fitness training before the punch training, it was just too much. ”

She was constantly getting more pressure because it was supposed to make her better. "And the truth is that it worked too. But at some point there comes a time when you can no longer stand it. That is why our cooperation only took a little more than a year. People around me told Patrick that I couldn't take it anymore. But he only replied that he didn't care. He didn't care about my mental health. "