MUMBAI: Nishesh Basavareddy thought it was pretty crazy. Not only was he sharing Rod Laver Arena with his idol Novak Djokovic, but Andy Murray was sitting at arm’s length as he went to pick up a towel between points. There have been many times when I have been.
“I try to focus on the court, but sometimes I go to the towel and he’s like, ‘Let’s go, Novak,’ and I look over here and it’s pretty crazy,” Basabalady said.
Murray is currently Djokovic’s coach and the 2025 Australian Open will come with certain privileges. If you want them, that is.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) agreed last October to introduce off-court coaching from 2025, meaning coaches can legally relay instructions to players from the box between points. . At the Australian Open, we took it a step further and designed dedicated courtside coaching pods for up to four members of a player’s team. It’s located right next to the player’s towel box.
So Djokovic was able to have long conversations with Murray between sets during the opening match of the fourth Test set against Indian-born American teenager Basava Reddy. Under pressure to serve, Jodi Anna Barrage is absorbing instructions from her coach and could potentially hit a few solid first serves against Coco Gauff on Wednesday.
Tennis has frequently experimented with coaching rules, but in the past they have often been gray and controversial (remember when Serena Williams was cited for breaking the rules in the 2018 US Open final? ). On the WTA Women’s Tour, she has also dabbled in on-court coaching, where coaches go to the players’ seats between sets. However, although it was largely unpopular, players seem to have gotten used to this new fad at Melbourne Park.
“For me, it’s fine. You have a choice whether you want to be coached or not,” said Gauff, the world No. 3. “I like this format better than when the coaches had to go on the court. It was a little weird. I like the fact that I get to say what I want to say, when I want to say it. ”
The pods, which give coaches access to live video and game stats, are optional, and Gauff left the decision up to the coaching team (they opted for the players’ boxes). World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka’s group has so far also continued to sit in the traditional area a little higher up, but most other top players, including Iga Swiatek, Djokovic and Alexander Zverev, I like the look and feel of the new zone. The big difference is that it’s much easier to hear instructions from “basically on the court,” as Djokovic said while revealing that he asked Murray for advice on several occasions.
“It’s much more convenient,” Swiatek said. “These rules about coaching were good for small courts, but when you play in big stadiums it is impossible to hear the coach in any case. Now it makes much more sense . It’s our choice whether to use it or not, and I think if we have good communication with the coaches, it might work.”
This also works as a good TV. Where else will we see Murray gesturing to Djokovic about something related to his backhand on court? Just before the start of the game, Basavalady’s coach Brian Smith, who was sitting courtside, spoke about the teenager’s strengths during an interview. Djokovic probably heard some of that too.
However, not everyone is participating. Sabalenka is not a “fan” of pods, and even more players weren’t when the ITF relaxed coaching rules. World No. 4 Taylor Fritz tweeted at the time that it would undermine “the one-on-one mental and strategic aspects of the sport.” Players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are great problem solvers during matches, and other racquet sports where players regularly talk to their coaches while keeping the “one-on-one” element sacrosanct. Of these, tennis stood out.
Now that’s almost gone. This also threatens to further widen the bridge between those at the top of the ladder and the rest. Many players outside the top 100 can’t afford traveling coaches, and certainly not the entourages that tennis players bring with them. Therefore, the volume of bodies within these pods can be biased in a given match.
Its positioning so close to the players on the court can also potentially cause conflict, especially if there are instances of spice between the players and the opposing team. Gauff felt that as long as people were respectful on the court, it shouldn’t be a concern.
“But at the United Cup, it was a bit weird because I had my towel right next to the bench, and it was also awkward because I didn’t want to look at the other team,” she added.
Awkward, pretty crazy, call it what you will. But this Australian Open, the pods are certainly making some noise.
