'She’s in good hands' - Mats Wilander feels Patrick Mouratoglou can help Simona Halep return to the top

Simona Halep will benefit from working from Serena Williams’ long-time coach Patrick Mouratoglou, according to Eurosport expert Mats Wilander.

It was announced earlier this year that two-time major winner Halep had enlisted the help of Mouratoglou.

At 30 years of age it is late in her career to make the move but, according to Wilander, it is an indication that the former world No. 1 wants to climb back to the top of the tree - as she told Eurosport recently.

Wilander feels Mouratoglou will teach Halep to play aggressive tennis, and success will depend on whether the Romanian can take what she will be taught onto the court.

“I’m noticing a difference with Simona Halep’s game every year I see her,” Wilander said in the Eurosport studio.

“She’s trying to be a little bit more aggressive and that is the natural evolution of most tennis players, especially when you have won a couple of Grand Slams and the monkey is off your back and now you’re going back to the process of developing your game.

“I see changes there and I think with the help of Patrick Mouratoglou - there will be a lot of confidence that Simona Halep will have with him because he worked with Serena for so long.

“But on the other hand, [former coach] Darren Cahill is one of the best coaches of all time as well.

“So I think Simona Halep, she’s in good hands [but] it’s still going to be up to her to implement those aggressive changes in matches.”

Tim Henman believes working with Mouratoglou will add a new dimension for Halep to feed off.

"I think Mouratoglou brings a fresh voice," Henman said in the Eurosport studio. "Halep’s been around a long time and she’s a great player.

"She’s won big titles so it’s not trying to reinvent the wheel but it may be getting a message across in a different way and obviously having a new voice can give you a new motivation and its very important that players as they get older, into their career really enjoy that process and that seems to be the case so best of luck to both of them."

Barbara Schett feels the skill of Mouratoglou as a coach will be on show, as Halep is vastly different to Williams.

"I think you can’t compare Serena Williams and SImona Halep as players," said in the Eurosport studio. "I think that Serena WIlliams had this big serve, she was trying to keep the points very short, and SImona Halep is the opposite. She’s a grinder, she can hit those unbelievable backhands but also her rallies are a lot longer. She’s not as tall, she’s not as powerful, she doesn't get any free points on her serve and I don’t think you can change a player completely.

"Those two are different and that’s the beauty and skill of a coach actually to adjust to the playstyle of the player and make that person better. I don’t think we’re going to see Simona Halep playing like Serena Williams any time soon.

"Patrick Mouratoglou is trying to enforce her strength now on the court - chasing down not missing, going for it when she has the chance. Yeah, a serve, I’m not so sure we’re going to see a lot of aces down the track."

Halep, who won the French Open in 2018, made a winning start to her 2022 Roland Garros campaign - beating Nastasja Schunk in three sets.

She continues her quest against Qinwen Zheng on Court Simonne-Mathieu on Thursday.

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