In her final In her months as a professional tennis player, Sandra Zaniewska didn’t know what her next chapter would do following her retirement, but she certainly knew one thing. She had nothing to do with tennis.
For many of her playing career, people were asking if she was interested in coaching, but she always said, “There’s no chance.” It was not interested in her and the idea of glove trotting tour dragged for someone else’s career was tortured.
However, when her career ended in 2017 at the age of 25, she was asked by her friend Petra Martic if she could temporarily help her when she returned to tour after her injuries. Zaniewska had no other plans or much money, so I thought she would help for a few weeks before moving officially from tennis. But eventually, weeks have turned into months, months have changed into years, and Martic has risen from the rankings just inside the top 100 in the world.
And Zaniewska, once reluctant and everything, got hooked. She knew she had found her true calling.
“I loved it and remember thinking, ‘Wow, I was going to do this job,'” Zaniewska told ESPN. “From that moment on, I just stayed and honestly didn’t even want to explore anything else. But after we stopped working together about two years later, I really hit me.
Since then, Zaniewska has been working with Alize Cornet and continues to coach Marta Kostyuk, who is currently ranked 25th since 2023. However, Zaniewska knows her journey is unique. Coaching changes occur frequently in tennis, and it can be difficult to identify the latest coaching partnerships, but it is believed that women’s main draw at the 2025 French Open will have 12 players out of 128 in the main draw of women with a female head coach. Mirra Andreeva, who lost in the quarterfinals and coached Conchita Martinez, was the last player left. There are no players in the female head coach and the male main draw.
In sports like tennis, which take pride in equality and its pioneering history, it is hard to believe there is such a gap between the coaching ranks. Why do we have so many female coaches, especially among female athletes? This is an obvious contradiction that has not been noticed by those involved in the sport, with coaches like Zaniewska actively working on change in addition to the WTA, USTA and Tennis Australia.
“I feel really, really fortunate on the path I had,” Zaniewska said. “There may be more stories like I have, so I really hope more women get those opportunities. I know there are other coaches who are eager to learn what they do, and they don’t get the chance to do that.
there is no A simple answer as to why there are so few female coaches on the tour.
However, there are several possible factors, many of which are deeply rooted in sports, its culture and society as a whole. Nicole Pratt, former tennis Australian player-turned coach and lead of women’s coach, spent years examining the complexity of the subject while developing the federal coach connect program to help recruit and develop women’s coaches.
“It’s pretty deep,” Pratt, who currently coaches both Storm Hunter and Kimberly Billerll on the tour, told ESPN. “The complexity of “Why?” is multidimensional with four different layers. ”
Pratt believes it often starts with an individual coach and their own lack of self-confidence. But that’s a small part of the puzzle. From there, it goes to what she defines as “interpersonal and organizational classes.” That’s why gender bias is often used.
“Most people in the sport are men and we know that it can often accidentally create barriers for female coaches,” Pratt said. “I’ve always heard this from female coaches. They are often told, ‘You work well with young girls’, and they puncture a pigeon in it. ”
Pratt explained that the next layer was deeply ingrained “socio-cultural” and said that many young girls were not raised to be as brave or risk-taking as young boys. That can lead to women not seeking opportunities later – they either don’t want to look aggressive or positive, or they don’t believe they are capable.
She further said that travelling 11 months of a year can be challenging for women who want to have or already want to do a family. In some cases, it may simply be impossible to combine it with parental responsibility. The WTA announced a new maternity leave program earlier this spring, but the coach is not eligible. They are essentially employees of individual players and usually do not have many advantages.
However, the gap also means that many players on tour consider themselves as a hit partner, an important part of the team.
Top players can travel with large teams, which often include head coaches and hit partners, but the average player on tour can’t afford to put both on the road at all times. As a result, many players are looking for a coach who can play the role. Pratt, who retired as a player in 2008, noted that during tour time many of his peers simply hired “young and inexperienced male coaches” and that is what players could afford.
“In the past few years, wages have gone up and it’s changing as many players can have some people on their team,” Pratt said. “But, ‘How can I get the most value in my money?’ “A really good coach” and ‘Who can get it?”
There is no official record or list of hit partners, but WTA member services director Mike Anders told ESPN he is unaware of the woman currently playing the role on the tour. Just as there are male practice players on the WNBA and women’s college basketball teams, most women prefer to practice with men, if not tour-level peers. (The general logic is that if a woman is good enough to hit the best player on the tour, she will take the tour.)
And being a hit partner can be a stepping stone for an aspiring coach. It is a clear path to sports for people who have played in college or at a lower specialized level, and can often lead to more. Sascha Bazin, Michael Joyce and Andrew Bettles are also the current head coaches of Roland Garros’ main draw players, starting in the professional ranks as hit partners.
“There are a lot of male coaches on the tour that start out as hit partners, but after a while you become coaches, but you can always hit if you need it,” Zaniewska said. “And the player said, “Okay, will she really help me? What if someone needs to hit with me in the tournament?”
And simply being around the tour – a relatively small, island community – gives the advantage by creating connections for hit partners and having future opportunities to coach and participate in the next team. Anders called it a “major obstacle” for female coaches trying to break into coaching at the top level.
While celebrating Celebrating its 50th anniversary of the formation of the WTA at Wimbledon in 2023, Billy Junking has changed her famous advocacy towards the lack of female coaches in sports. That year, there were six players in the main draw of the event, working with a female coach.
“It’s terrible. It’s very unfortunate,” King told The Associated Press in an interview that was gaining great attention at the time. “It’s absolutely about society. You have to look at it as it is. So if you don’t see the women there as a coach, it won’t even surpass your brain. How can you get top players to hire them? We have to solve the problem.”
However, the WTA was already very aware of this issue. Not only is it clear that there are no women in the player box, but former players will routinely complain about how difficult it is to break into coaching despite their impressive resume. And when the WTA launched its coaching program in 2017, it was clear that the coaches were mostly qualified and met certain criteria, allowing the organization to see the raw numbers themselves.
With the aim of tackling the issue head on, the WTA launched its Coach Inclusion Program in 2021. This is an ambitious initiative aimed at increasing the number of female coaches. At the time, there were only four female coaches in the Top 200 working with players.
“The intent with this program was to remove the barriers to access that we were seeing,” Anders, running the program, told ESPN. “Tennis is a rather small world, and the program is essentially a combination of targeted coaching education and can actually be placed in the environment, promoting mentorship and creating connections.”
The programme collaborated with 10 promising coaches in North America in its first year. Since then, 34 women have successfully completed the programme and expanded to Asia-Pacific, South America and the UK, hoping to expand to other parts of Europe and the Middle East in the coming years. This year, there are a total of 20 women spots in all areas.
Although ATP has a coaching program, ESPN does not have a particular focus on increasing the number of female coaches. Women who coach men’s tennis players remain rare, but Platt previously coached French open tournament directors Mark Polmans and Amerimazemo, but worked with Andy Murray for nearly two years and later with Lucas Puille.
The WTA program will take coaches to tournaments in their respective regions, completely immerse the coaching experience, work with players and teams, learn the inside and out of tournament logistics, and try to meet as many people as possible.
Coaches like Zaniewska and Pratt are often involved and allow the people in the program to hide them when possible. Every tournament on the tour is different, so it may sound like a mundane aspect, such as practice court bookings and scheduling transportation to the site, so it can be fundamentally different from event to event. Just knowing whether you get the opportunity to learn from a veteran coach or who to ask in the future can make all the difference.
“Before I joined the program, I was in a program where I coached a little bit of the top 100 players, but she said she felt very uncomfortable and out of place because she didn’t know who to go when players wanted to arrange practice with other coaches or ask questions about media requirements,” Anders said. “Her players expected her to know everything and take care of it. But with just gaining experience over the course of a year, she was hired shortly after completing the program and then knew many people who could help her, and she felt like she belonged now.”
Last month, the latest event the WTA saw data, the Italian Open, had 169 certified coaches between the main draw and qualifying, of which 26 (over 15%) were women. In the WTA Tour Coach Program (a program launched in 2017), 24 of the 125 registered coaches (over 19%) are women. Although not equal yet, Anders is encouraged by progress.
The program also boasts many success stories. Anders became captains of her native Billy Junking Cup, with five women who came through the program becoming the WTA Tour coaches, including Fanivalga, who had just been named Daniel Collins’ coach before the Indian Wells in March. Varga, a former Hungarian junior player who played at Division II Southwest Baptist University, had never thought of a career in coaching. After earning a master, she spent one summer internship only in front of a computer, with plans to pursue something in finance, and some conversations with her college coach changed her mind.
When John Bryant retired 51 years later, Varga was tapped to become head coach of both the Southwest Baptist men’s and women’s teams. In her four years in the role, she led the boys team to the appearance of the NCAA Tournament Elite 8, while the girls team led to the seventh place program highest ranking. Varga fell in love with coaching.
She was encouraged to apply to the Coach Inclusion Programme by those closest to her. Varga was excited to make more connections, but he also felt strongly about the need for more female coaches in the sport.
“I had a very bad experience, so it was very important to me,” Varga shared with ESPN. “I had a very good female coach until I was 14 and had a great experience with her. And unfortunately, for the rest of my third year I had a really bad male coach. They didn’t listen to me when I was injured.
Although the 32-year-old Varga wasn’t sure if she wanted to coach at a professional level, being around the tour as part of the program was “a fantastic eye-opener” for her. She noticed that it worked well with her “ultra-competitive” nature and her desire to help players become the best. She estimates she was able to speak with more than 20 coaches during the programme time, which only further promoted her desires and passions.
“We had a great time,” Balga said. “We shared a lot of experiences, similar goals, similar experiences. In the tournament, we meet at dinner, learn, see, experiences, and that’s what you gained in a week. Everyone had the same goals.
Los Angeles-based Varga first met Collins the week before Indian Wells began in March. They spent a strong practice week together and despite an early exit in the tournament, Collins asked Balga if they would continue working with her. Varga currently plans to maintain Collins full-time through Wimbledon in July and is resuming responsibility at the Tier 1 Tennis Academy. However, she wants to join Collins in some capacity on a part of North American hard court swing.
In one of Varga’s first practice sessions with Collins, the two practiced with Robin Montgomery and her coach Kathy Rinaldi. For Varga, it was a perfect moment: Rinaldi was one of the coaches who had the opportunity to talk to during the program, and perhaps the person who inspired her most. Rinaldi’s main job is USTA’s women’s tennis director, and USTA is one of the coalitions that are deeply involved in the coach inclusion program.
In addition to continuing that partnership, the USTA says it is equally committed to making coaching more comprehensive, starting from the grassroots level. Later this summer, we launched our own coaching program, focusing on increasing the number of women and people of color in that role. Megan Rose, managing director, business development and operations head, and former player and coach at USTA, is in charge of new initiatives, and believes he will improve and grow the sport in the US.
“We have a diverse representative (of coaches),” Rose told ESPN. “Not only women, but people of color and people with disabilities, can have the right representative of the player base they want to grow to reach 35 million. It’s about vision, as well as validation. There’s not only coaching, but also leadership within the various organizations that are in general tennis and sports.”
Rose said the organization sought to identify obstacles that could prevent or delay the increase in women in coaching, in the hopes of providing specific support in these areas. She said motherhood is a clear barrier, citing the time and travel required for work at a higher level, as well as the need to develop creative solutions.
“We’ve been thinking a lot about how we can work with the institution to create the right structure to support the mothers returning,” Rose said.
That’s a struggle to meet regularly on tours now. Pratt has twin daughters, aged 10, returning home to her Australian home. Being far away at a time, weeks, sometimes months, is challenging.
“It certainly could be lonely,” Pratt said. “Especially when you’re on the other side of the world, you’re away from your family. I haven’t been away for more than three weeks on tour, but obviously I tried to set a little rule for myself that it stretches.”
There is friendship between female coaches on tour. There is a group chat that is used to share resources, ask questions, organize practices between players, and brainstorm ideas. What is often discussed among women is a way to deal with the inequities of hit partners. Pratt said she and Martinez are discussing that at a recent clay tournament in Europe.
“I told Conki, “Do you know what makes a real difference to a female coach? If the tournament offers us a hit partner specifically assigned to us,” Pratt said of the conversation. “There aren’t many of us at this point, so if we had that option, players would actually see them potentially different ways (hiring women). There are still barriers, but there are solutions too.”
For now, the number of female coaches remains low, but is rising slowly. Some young players, including 18-year-old Victoria Mboko, have been able to compete in Roland Garros’ third round, and some of the young players will see the benefits of working with women as coaches.
“Of course, there’s a woman there, so you have more to do with it,” Mboko, coached by former world third-largest Natalie Tauziato, said last week. “So they know more about women’s games. They know the struggles that women can experience on tours. In that respect, it can be a little easier to try and understand what men can’t.”
However, there is still an extra burden for those who work, and they often know that they represent more than just themselves. But there is a strong desire to open the door for others and make the next generation a little easier.
While speaking to ESPN, Zaniewska was said to have mentioned Coach Anders, who was threatened by the logistics of Life of Life on tour. She texted Anders to provide help if other female coaches asked similar questions.
“You don’t want to drive you crazy in some way,” she said. “Things like this can shatter your confidence and fill you up. I have no control over how many female coaches are on tour, how many female coaches are there. I can only do my small role with this.
