For top players, it’s not always an immediate transition from playing to coaching. Sitting court side and playing every point without any control of the outcome is an adjustment, even for the legends of the game. The women’s coaching community is very fortunate to have Lindsay Davenport returning to the tour where she and American sensation, Madison Keys, will resume their working relationship.

The rapidly growing assembly of female coaches working with WTA tour players includes many top players serving as Fed Cup captains. This star studded cast of captains includes the most recently appointed Fed Cup captain, Anne Keothavong who replaced top female coach and global advocate for women, Judy Murray.

Many of these coaches were incredible players, including former Grand Slam champions Conchita Martinez, Iva Majoli, and Anastasia Myskina. Additionally, there are many more outstanding females serving in fed cup roles, these include former top ten players Alicia Molik, Kathy Rinaldi, and Dominique Monami.

Along side these greats are many more great players, including Tatiana Garbin, Barbara Ritter, Janette Husarova, Tamarine Tanasugan, Tzipi obzilier, Klaudia Jans-Ignacik, Neuza Silva, Tatjana Jacmencia, and Ann de Vries.

The numbers are also increasing on the WTA tour with many more female coaches working with the very best players in the world. Coaches including
Kim Clijsters, Lisa Raymond, Nicole Pratt, Ann Grossman, Jana Novotna, Rennae Stubbs, Justine Henin, Elise Tamela, Biljana Vesilinovic, Sarah Stone, Beti Sekulovski, Evgenia Manyukova, Debby Grahame, Elena Makarova, Noelle Van Lottum, Edina Galovitz, Jill Craybas, Jelena Kostanic, Jelena Jakovleva , Lucie Ahl, Stephanie Foretz, Julie Coin, Sophie Lefevre, Maria Kondratieva, Dinara Safina, Cindy De Leeuw and others are working in full and part time positions with top WTA tour players. The importance of female coaches working on the women’s tour is a strongly debated topic with some individuals continually stating that gender should not matter, and the best coach should be hired for the job. That is essentially true, however, the younger generations of aspiring female coaches would argue strongly against that!

By having female coaches working with players at the top of the game, it paves a realistic pathway for the next generation. These tour coaches are an inspiration to the female coaches of the future, seen as role models, they instill a critical belief in young female coaches. It is now a realistic possibility for female coaches to work in various high performance positions and at the top of the game.

It appears that 2017 is set to be a big year in women’s tennis. These times they are a-changin. The emerging number of female coaches have the opportunity to work side by side with many incredible male coaches already making a great impact on the WTA tour.

To those former Grand Slam champions, such as Davenport, Martinez, Raymond, and other world class female coaches, your impact as individual coaches is already remarkable. But, by being part of something greater, the movement towards equality in sports coaching, you and the many other female coaches working in professional tennis coaches can collectively influence the entire globe. It’s truly something incredible and we at the WTCA want to thank you for your service.