BOCA RATON, Fla. – It’s not a piece of news at the level of Coach Boom Boom (seriously, what is?), but Nathalie Tauziat will be veteran Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak’s new coach.
“I respect Nathalie a lot as a coach. She was No. 3 in the world, and no one thought she’d get to such a high level. On the physical side she wasn’t extraordinary, and even as far as the tennis … Her game evolved really well, but it was all about her head,” Canadian Fed Cup captain Sylvain Bruneau told Open Court.
“I really like the way she thinks. I think she can really help Aleks at this stage of her career, to help her decode her opponents,” he added. “I really like her vision of women’s tennis – to go forward – and that fits well with Aleks.”
Wozniak had been officially coachless, working every day with her father/former coach Antoni out at the Tennis 13 club in Laval during the off-season.
She told Open Court she had intended to head to Australia without a coach, with Bruneau on hand if needed.
The biggest reason for that? The state of her shoulder.
There was no point in hiring a new coach – only to have him or her sit idle while she dealt with an injury. That happened in 2011 when Tennis Canada hired Zdenek Zofka. He moved over from the Czech Republic, only to find himself without a player to coach.
When Wozniak arrived for a week at the Canadians’ pre-season training camp in Boca Raton, she and Tauziat reportedly really hit it off. And by the end of the camp she was playing “very, very, very well”, according to Bruneau.
The deal was sealed there; official a trial period, it will be made official after the Australian Open.
Tauziat had worked with top-ranked Canadian Genie Bouchard for much of the last two years, a major factor in her rapid rise.
This will be a different kind of challenge, with a veteran player.
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