Serena Williams' coach reveals arguments over pregnancy weight gain
originally appeared on The Sporting News

Serena Williams has been open about her weight loss over the last couple of months, but before losing weight, there was a time when she had "fights" with her former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, about her weight gain during her two pregnancies. In a conversation with The Guardian on Thursday, September 11, Mouratoglou recalled the disagreements he had with his former athlete.

“Oh I remember it very well,” Mouratoglou said, recalling Williams recently sharing that he would tell her to lose weight to do better on the court.“It was after the pregnancy – not right after; I know these things take time. I told her: 'Listen, this is not a comment on how you look. It’s not my problem.'"

Williams has two daughters, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. and Adira River Ohanian, whom she shares with her husband Alexis Ohanian. Olympia was born in 2017, and Adira was born in 2023. Mouratoglou explained that weight gain in a sport like tennis is hard to navigate due to the movements in which your joints need to make, which is more difficult with more weight.

“But tennis is a sport in which you can’t afford to be overweight," he continued. "First of all, the pressure on your joints and everything is so big that your chances become much higher. The second thing is it’s a sport in which you change directions all the time and with a lot of speed. Even one kilo overweight is a lot. When you go full speed in one direction with one kilo extra and then need to stop and come back, the time that you lose is really important. Just look at the best players in the world – [Carlos] Alcaraz, [Jannik] Sinner, [Novak] Djokovic. Think about their movement. The weight was affecting her movement.”

Mouratoglou explained that due to Williams' age at the time of her pregnancies — she was 35 when Olympia was born and 43 when Adira was born.

“In Serena’s case, she was older – so of course the body is not going to bounce back the same as before, and the risk of injury is even bigger,” Mouratoglou added. “We had a few fights about it. I remember she did not like when I said that because she thought I was judging her. But I kept telling her, I don’t care about your look. It’s not my job. My job is your tennis. If you want to come back to the top and make history, then we have to be very efficient on every level – including this one, which for me was the key element.”

Williams revealed that she lost 31 pounds in eight months due to GLP-1s — a weight loss medication. 

When asked, “So now that she’s lost all this weight, are you like, Well, I wish she had done this five, six years ago?” Mouratoglou said. “I’m not the type of guy who’s looking back and having regrets. But, yeah, if she would have been in this position physically, the results would have been better.”

Williams has since retired from the sport after the 2022 US Open because she wants to focus on her family as well as her various ventures.

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