Battling egos and stereotypes - the rise of female tennis coaches

The coaching box is one of the most visible places in tennis.

Players often glance towards it after every point. Television cameras pan to it dozens of times during a match. Commentators spend time trying to dissect the reactions of those within it.

But if you look closely, whether at regular tour events or at Wimbledon in the coming fortnight, you will usually see most of the coaching staff inside it are men.

Female coaches, even at the top of the women's game, are a rarity. Only four players inside the top 50 in singles have a woman as their primary coach.

Yet it was one of those players that walked away with the French Open trophy this year as Conchita Martinez - a former Wimbledon winner - guided 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva to her first Grand Slam title.

Numbers are growing and a handful of female coaches are thriving at the very top of the game.

But in a sport like tennis, which prides itself on gender equality, why are there still so few full-time female coaches, and what is being done to tackle the issue?

When Andy Murray hired former world number one Amelie Mauresmo as his coach in 2014, the decision was met with a wave of sexist backlash that shocked Murray.

Murray's partnership with Mauresmo is one of the few examples of a female coach working at the top of the men's game, but the scarcity of women in coaching goes beyond the ATP Tour.

In 2017, women made up just 6% of registered coaches on the WTA Tour - the women's circuit. That figure has more than tripled since, rising to 19% in 2026.

The perceptions that Murray experienced when he appointed Mauresmo 12 years ago still exist, while family commitments, a relentless calendar and constant travel all play a part in why there are not so many women in top-level coaching.

Sandra Zaniewska, the coach of world number 13 and French Open semi-finalist Marta Kostyuk, believes the "landscape is changing" - but she has seen the barriers up close.

"Women, when they finish playing, usually think of starting a family and travelling less," says Zaniewska, a former player who never planned to go into coaching.

"If I had children, I'm sure that I wouldn't be travelling.

"It's why I don't think that it's ever going to be 50-50 [the split of male-female coaches] - but there is space and the landscape is changing."

Another factor is having a hitting partner - a role almost exclusively filled by men.

While the biggest stars often travel with both a coach and a hitting partner, many players on tour cannot afford to bring both to every event. As a result, they opt for a coach they believe can fill both roles.

Given that women compete against other women, why is a male hitting partner considered essential? Perhaps it's not just the extra power and top spin on their shots, but the confidence they exude.

"Sometimes we laugh that you can have male hitting partners and their ego is so big - they come and just think they know everything," Zaniewska, 34, said.

"When you're top 100 or top 50, so much is about the mental game and believing in yourself and projecting confidence.

"On that level it helps, because if you have a player that does not feel that you're confident and [that] you believe in them and yourself - because it goes together - then they're going to feel it very quick."

A high level of self-belief is something Martinez has been able to transfer to Andreeva.

"She understands me more than anyone could," the Russian teenager said 12 months before her triumph at Roland Garros.

"She's been through this. She's also a woman. She's played so many matches on tour, she's so experienced. She's a Grand Slam champion."

Zaniewska believes female coaches can sometimes be judged unfairly because they express confidence differently.

"It's not that females are more insecure, I wouldn't say that," Zaniewska said.

"We just think more, so we're more conscious of things. We really want to make sure that we figure it out before we give advice to someone.

"That can portray a sense of insecurity sometimes."

The lack of visible female coaches creates a cycle that is difficult to break, with Zaniewska believing some women just do not see it as an option.

"Players are so used to having male coaches, and I think it's mostly the players that don't consider having a female coach is a possibility," she said.

"If you're used to having a male coach and having a certain type of personality or type of coaching, that is just what you roll along with.

"You don't even think there could be something else."

Andreeva and Kostyuk are joined by Anna Kalinskaya and Caty McNally as the only top-50 players with women as their primary coaches - although 2024 Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini, former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and France's Diane Parry have women within their coaching set-up.

With players often overlooking fellow women as potential coaches, it leaves opportunities hard to come by for those dreaming of a job at the top of the sport.

Tennis legend Billie Jean King is a strong advocate of the notion that "if you can't see it, you can't be it".

British coach Fran Jones - a namesake of the British number four - found herself "pigeonholed" coaching under-14s without being aware of opportunities that existed beyond that level.

"You don't see many women [coaches] on tour," Jones said. "You see a lot of men with my playing level on tour as coaches, but as a female at my playing level, they're not on tour.

"It doesn't really happen very much, unless you've been a top ex-pro.

"If you don't see some of the top women players in the world thriving in that space, why would you even try and step into it?"

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) introduced the Coach Inclusion Programme - an initiative designed to create a clearer pathway for female coaches - to tackle the representation problem.

Working with national tennis federations, the programme develops coaches while providing the connections and confidence needed to push them forward.

When it launched in 2021, there were just four accredited female coaches with players in the WTA's top 200 singles rankings.

At this year's Indian Wells tournament, 34 of the 187 coaches were female (18.2%).

"When you start coaching, you'll start with juniors in the local club, and then you can kind of get stuck in that world instead of actually trying to push yourself," explained Jaslyn Hewitt-Shehadie, who leads the programme's content.

Lauren English, who along with Jones graduated in June, said the programme showed her the "stepping stones" needed and had given her "courage" to pursue bigger opportunities.

Poland's Zaniewska, 34, has the perspective of a coach with a foothold at the top of the game.

"Some female players will connect better with male coaches, and some will connect better with female coaches," Zaniewska said.

"I don't want to say that female coaches would be better for females than male coaches, because at the end, it's a personality fit."

Ultimately, it is not about proving female coaches are better. It is about making sure they have the opportunity to compete for the same roles and reach the same level.