Tennis players usually retire in their mid 30’s as the game is physically very demanding. However, the love for the game stays the same and former players often want to be connected with the game. Some take post-retirement commentary jobs and others may resort to coaching.
In this article, we look at 5 former World Number 1 players who took to coaching in order to stay connected with the game.
5. Andre Agassi
This former 8 time Grand Slam winner retired from the sport in 2006. Agassi came back in a new avatar in 2017 when he took over as head coach of Novak Djokovic. The partnership was short lived and results were less than expected.
However, in 2019 Agassi has taken another challenging job of coaching Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov. This association seems bringing fruits as the out of form Dimitrov seems to be crawling towards his older self and is now starting to win matches again.
4. Boris Becker
The German superstar often referred as boom-boom due to his attacking style of play retired from the game in 1999. He came back in 2013 to cock the then World Number 1 Novak Djokovic.
Under Becker’s tutelage Novak won 7 Grand Slam titles which even included holding all 4 Slams at the same time and completing the Career Slam.
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However, a rift between the two in 2016 meant Becker left the Djokovic team. He has since then refrained from taking up the Coaching job again.
3. Stefan Edberg
The Swedish player won 3 Slams in his professional tennis career before retiring in 1996. Edberg took to coaching his protégé Roger Federer in 2014. The association lasted for an year and a half.
During this time Federer did win some big ATP titles but the duo were unable to taste the Grand Slam success. However Edberg is known to have the man behind Federer’s improved backhand which then enabled the Swiss maestro to have considerable success in 2017 and 2018.
2. Ivan Lendl
Lendl had a 15 year long professional career before retiring in 1994. He spent 270 weeks as the Number 1 singles player. In 2011 Lendl took over the coaching reigns of Andy Murray and had another stint with the Brit in 2016.
Under Lendl’s tutelage Murray went on to win 3 Grand Slam and become the World Number 1. Lendl also had the coaching association with German Alexander Zverev in 2019 but it ended very briefly.
1. Carlos Moya
Moya was the 1st Spanish player to become World Number 1 in the Open Era and also a former Roland Garros Champion. He has been coaching Rafa Nadal, the player he inspired during childhood, since 2017.
Under Moya’s guidance Rafa has changed his playing style a bit and succeeded in winning 5 Grand Slams so far. The association is paying off well as Rafa has also ended 2 years as World Number 1.
Prior to Nadal, Moya also coached Canada’s Milos Raonic briefly in 2016.