Coaching on the professional tennis tour: Elite coaches’ perceptions of contextual challenges and effective coaching strategies

The purpose of this study was to explore professional tennis coaches' perspectives of their unique coaching context, including how this context influenced their coaching practices. Five professional tennis coaches, all of whom were coaching a top 20 ranked male player at the time of the study, participated in individual semi-structured interviews. On average, the coaches in this study had more than 15 years of tour coaching experience and had collectively coached male and female players to four singles grand slam titles and one grand slam doubles title. Additionally, the coaching group had won more than 15 ATP titles with their current players. Our reflexive thematic analysis revealed several common challenges for these coaches, such as a unique power-dynamic in which their player was their employer, potentially affecting the style and content of their feedback. Managing relationships with other stakeholders, such as parents and agents, was also perceived as critical to sustaining both player development and coaches' careers. Additionally, coaches emphasized the demanding nature of the tour on players, particularly due to the constant travel, highlighting the importance of offering social support while strategically taking time apart to maintain the coach-athlete relationship. Finally, participants noted the challenges faced by incoming coaches in navigating this unique context, pointing out that the sport's competitive nature often makes established coaches hesitant to provide mentorship. Overall, this is one of the first studies to provide qualitative data on an elite sample of professional tennis coaches who described their perceptions of coaching in this unique environment.