Andy Murray sat in a little chair behind a barrier, tucked into the corner of the Rod Laver Arena court, pivoted, and mimicked a double-handed backhand, explaining in detail what was going on, or going wrong.
Novak Djokovic, who has more grand slam titles than any man in history, stood a metre, away hands on hips, and listened with interest.
There is a strong chance Djokovic knew how to play a backhand, but his new savant Murray found something to tweak in his game in real time – and was able to explain in real time, from ground level.
Wait, isn’t coaching from the sidelines banned in tennis?
Not any more.
Until 2017, off-court coaching was a complete no-no. Djokovic would have been penalised and Murray would have been marched from the venue for trespassing on the court.
But the rules have been gradually relaxed through a series of trials in different tournaments and the International Tennis Federation announced that from January 1 this year the rules of tennis would be changed to allow coaches to school their players during all matches.
Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley, who never misses a chance to innovate, seized the moment by introducing on-court coaching “pods” on the show courts, which have been the talk of this Australian Open. Some players like them and some, such as women’s world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, are not so keen.
But one undeniable effect of the pods has been to open the floodgates for the previously outlawed practice of in-game coaching. Now, it’s Open slather.
Pre-pods, coaches sat in a player’s box at the front of the stands, from where they could gesticulate and shout. Now they are so close that when players go to collect their towels they can stop and receive real-time data or pep talks, as Daniil Medvedev’s Thai opponent Kasidit Samrej did in the first round. So too Andrey Rublev on his way to a first-round defeat to Brazilian wonder kid Joao Fonseca on Tuesday night.
Who will benefit most from in-match coaching?
Australian tennis great Paul McNamee, who coaches former world No.1 doubles player Hsieh Su-wei, said the rule change and the introduction of pods were a good thing.
Previously, coaches bent the rules from the stands with contorted hand signals, like a buzzed-up baseball coach, all the while pretending they were just shooing away flies.
The most spectacular penalty for mid-match coaching occurred when Serena Williams was docked a game in her US Open final against Naomi Osaka in 2018 (that tournament was not part of the trial). This prompted a meltdown from the woman who had won 23 grand slam titles, and she eventually lost the match.
Under the old system, McNamee said, the players who spoke foreign languages often had an advantage because officials could not decipher whether they were coaching or not.
“It used to advantage the foreign-language-speaking players so the change is helpful. It [coaching] was impossible to police, so these changes are only catching up with reality,” he said.
“In terms of the coaching profession it is an advantage because most coaches live on the bread line and they [now] have more capacity to have an influence in matches.
“You have always been able to get access to laptops and data on the match. Being able to use that and pass it on to players I suppose will help some coaches who struggle to see what is going on in a match.
“The pods will shine a light on the number of people who should not be coaches but who are called coaches. I think this could hopefully be a vehicle to a professional coaching accreditation on tour, which does not exist now.
“You will have boyfriends and girlfriends and parents wanting to be in the pod and get their TV time.
“So it will hopefully lead to more regulation of the profession with a proper accreditation system.”
‘Adds to the show’
Tiley said on the eve of the Open that the pods would also provide coaches with greater commercial opportunities, as they would be in constant view of the TV cameras.
“I’ve been an advocate for the coach being allowed on the court, just simply because it adds to the whole story, and the whole show, and every other sport has it,” he said.
Australian Alex De Minaur spoke to his coach Adolfo Gutierrez in Spanish during his first-round match, with the exchange beamed into lounge rooms in prime time. Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt sat alongside him in the pod, in the dual roles of mentor to de Minaur and Nine on-court commentator.
As John Millman pointed out from the commentary box, Spanish is not Hewitt’s strong point. Lleyton might have preferred hand signals.
Coaches don’t have to sit in the pods. Nick Kyrgios’ support team might still prefer the traditional seat in the stands, as far as they can get from the player who in his first round loss let the f—in’ coaches know it was their f—-n’ fault he was out there when he f—in’ well shouldn’t have been. Such intimacy.
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