Longtime tennis star Mats Wilander, a Wood River Valley resident, headed to New York Tuesday to be at the U.S. Open, the biggest tennis tournament in the nation.
In 1988, Wilander won the U.S. Open (along with the French and the Australian opens), making him the No. 1 ranked singles player in the world.
This time, however, Wilander goes not as a competitor, but as a coach for Paul-Henri Mathieu, of Strasbourg, France. When Wilander won the U.S. Open, Mathieu was 6.
Yet Wilander—who is retired from the professional circuit—seems unfazed by the career change.
"I play enough tennis that I get to sweat, and trying to get him to play well and to urge him on is a challenge," he said. "Sure, it can never compare to playing in front of 20,000 people and winning the French Open, but it's not better or worse. It is just different."
Wilander spends a great deal of time on the road working with Mathieu. Since January 2008, Wilander has attended every major tournament with Mathieu. In preparation for each match, Wilander practices with the Frenchman at least once a day, hitting balls and teaching skills.
"My job is to make him as equipped as possible," Wilander said. "Sure, I can change a few things, but when it is 5-all in the first set, it is up to him."
In fact, one thing Wilander likes about coaching is that there is less responsibility involved.
"I can take responsibility for what he knows and doesn't know," Wilander said. "But when it comes to the end of a match it is really not about me.
"I think players make coaches more than coaches make players."
Mathieu made his professional debut in 1999 and over the last decade he has won four titles. Going into the U.S. Open, Mathieu has won no major titles in 2008 and sits with a record of 21 wins and 20 losses.
Yet Mathieu is still a force to be reckoned with. He finished in the quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympics and Wilander believes he has a real chance to win the U.S. Open.
"He has a killer game and he fights really hard," Wilander said. "The thing is that when he plays really well he has an unbelievable game and he is easily among the top 10 in the world, but when he doesn't, his ranking goes down to 50."
"When (Rafael) Nadal is at his best, he is No. 1, and when he is at his worst, he is at 2 or maybe 3."
According to Wilander, what makes top players such as Nadal or Roger Federer so good is their versatility. They are not just good servers or good sprinters, but are smart players with vast repertoires.
"It is much easier to be a smart player who never plays badly than to be one who has just the best serve or the best forehand," Wilander said. "If those things don't work, the player is hopeless."
As for who is likely to win this year's Open, Wilander is unsure.
The U.S. Open is different from other major tournaments such as the French Open or Wimbledon, he said, because it is played on a hard, fast surface. Since most players are more comfortable with hard courts, there are more viable competitors at the tournament.
The reason, Wilander explained, is that a hard surface allows players to play to their strengths, whereas on other surfaces they have to change their games. When tennis players compete on grass, they have to play aggressively, whereas on clay, they have to play defensively. On a hard surface, players can choose their style, and they can be both aggressive and defensive, he said.
Additionally, unlike Wimbledon, where players have only two weeks prior to the tournament to practice on grass, at the U.S. Open players have had at least six weeks of playing on hard courts before the tournament even begins.
"In the French and Wimbledon, there are really only two guys: Federer and Nadal, and maybe (Novak) Djokovic," Wilander said. "In the U.S. Open, there are at least 10 guys in the mix."
Despite the U.S. Open being more of a free-for-all, Wilander is particularly interested in the fates of Federer and Nadal. This is the first time in four years that Federer has not won a single grand slam title, and he recently dropped to second in the world. It is also the first year that Federer has lost to lower-ranked players whom he had never lost to before.
"There are two big questions this tournament," Wilander said. "How does Nadal deal with the pressure to be the best without having someone else to chase?"
"And is Federer possibly one out of two guys ever to regain the No. 1 ranking in the world, or will he fall off the face of the earth like the rest of us?"
Courtesy photo
Mats Wilander, a native Swede who now lives in the Wood River Valley, was the No. 1 tennis player in the world in 1988.
