Sam Sumyk is a French tennis coach who currently coaches WTA world number three and 2016 French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza.
Muguruza started slowly today and has a history of being self critical and temperamental. Sumyk is allowed to coach on changeovers and obviously knows his player well.
The court side microphone caught just a snippet of their communication. He wisely said…’why don’t you just make an agreement with yourself?’ The camera cut away at that point so fans couldn’t hear more about ‘the agreement’ he was suggesting. It worked like a charm as Garbine stormed back to win in straight sets.
It made me think that doubles teams could make an agreement too before taking the court.
* We agree to be in sync mentally and always strive to pick each other up.
* We agree to make a high percentage of first serves and solid returns.
* We agree to take charge of the net and take care of the ball.
* We agree that that having fun is our primary performance goal.
* We agree that the outcome is up for grabs…but we will never be outhustled.
* We will poach more when we have house money. (a lead)
* We will identify the weaker player in the warmup and target her.
* We will play Aussie formation or two back occasionally to mix things up.
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