Atlanta Open showcases the ATP’s new off-court coaching trial, to mixed reviews

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ATLANTA, Ga.—The ATP Tour rolled out its new off-court coaching trial two weeks ago across various 250-level events in Europe, a move that was met with relatively little fanfare considering the years of fervent debate that preceded it.

But in the United States, many ATP coaches are just now getting their first look at the new rules at the Atlanta Open, a hard-court event that marks the beginning of the North American swing in the buildup to the US Open.

From now until the end of the season, coaches on the men’s tour are allowed to communicate with players from the stands, mid-match. They must be sitting in designated seats and can say only a few words or short phrases when their player is on the same end of the court, though hand signals are permitted and unlimited.

For some players and coaches, the shift that was a long time coming. The current ATP coaching rulebook bans all forms of mid-match coaching, but it’s a rule that’s historically been hard to enforce—and one that’s further complicated by the multiple languages spoken on tour, and their own umpires’ inconsistent penalty system of “soft warnings”, real warnings and code violations.

“If the rules were not going to be enforced, then it was time for there to be a revisiting of that rule,” Marc Lucero, the current coach of Steve Johnson, tells TENNIS.com. “Because umpires sometimes give soft warnings. What does that mean? So was a player being coached or not?

“If the player has been coached, then it should be penalized. If not, then there shouldn't be anything said. I think the rules need to be revisited for sure, since it was something that wasn't being enforced so it wasn’t really effective.”

Tennis’ coaching rules have long been another confusing facet of the pro game, varying from one tour to another and even from week to week.

On the Hologic WTA Tour, where mid-match coaching has been the rule since 2008, it was permitted only during changeovers in a made-for-TV format that saw coaches rush down from the stands and onto the court to talk to their player during the 120-second break in play. “On-court coaching” regularly produced memorable and instantly sharable moments, and also provided an additional marketing opportunity, with coaches sometimes bringing with them WTA-branded iPads loaded with match stats, courtesy of the tour’s technology partner.

But at the Grand Slams, which are ITF events, any form of coaching was banned for men and women—except for the US Open, after the USTA brought on “sideline coaching” in juniors and qualifying events in 2017. And at other ITF events like Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup, which are played in a team format, there’s always free and liberal coaching available from coaches and teammates alike.

The lone holdout had always been the men’s tour, with top male players like Roger Federer and Nick Kyrgios being some of the most vocal opponents. But over the years, the ATP began testing the waters. They experimented with the concept at the NextGen Finals—which often serves as the ATP’s testing ground for innovations that later roll out to the main tour—where it took the form of coaching from the stands, with both parties initially using headsets to communicate during changeovers.

At the NextGen Finals, like in Atlanta, opponents of mid-match coaching mourned what they viewed as the loss of tennis’ individualistic and gladiatorial identity. The image of one player battling another, with both fending for themselves and finding solutions on the court—no coaches or teammates or caddies or entourages to help—has always been one of the sport’s defining features, especially in the men’s game.

“I personally like tennis without coaching; I think that's what makes the sport special,” Jay Berger, coach of Reilly Opelka, tells TENNIS.com. “Players have to figure things out and be prepared prior to the match. But it's there now, and I'll probably talk to Reilly throughout the summer to see exactly how much information he wants.”

“I probably won't be talking about much,” he added. “But we'll be keeping notes and having all the information.”

Beyond the ideological debate surrounding the role of coaching in tennis, the most immediate concerns for coaches in Atlanta were the practical logistics of taking part in the ATP’s months-long trial.

After decades of having their interactions with players scrutinized and penalized, some coaches still have to remind themselves that the option is now available. Jaymon Crabb, a Tennis Australia pro tour coach working with the likes of Alex de Minaur and John Millman in Atlanta, told TENNIS.com that coaches’ initial hesitancy and awkwardness will likely fade with time as more of them get used to the idea.

“You call out one or two phrases, and then you almost look around, wondering if you did it the right way or not,” he said, recalling his own first time coaching Millman from the stands, as the player rallied for a three-set victory against Alexei Popyrin in the first round.

While many ATP players have been skeptical of coaching over the years—including Millman himself, who called the idea “rubbish” when the US Open first announced it in 2017—Crabb reported most of the players he’s currently working with in Atlanta have also been keen to give it a try now that it’s available.

So far, there have been mixed reviews. One immediately obvious challenge will be keeping things consistent across the tour’s various events, as coaches now have designated seats in the stands from where they must sit near the baseline. Naturally, the quality of these seats will vary from court to court.

Case in point: in Atlanta, the larger Stadium Court sits the coaches at a bit of a distance from the court, with umbrella-covered VIP tables acting as a buffer on one end of the net. Depending on which player gets the umbrella side, they’d likely have more trouble hearing their team than the other player.

The setup causes confusion with fans, too. When Jack Sock first approached the sidelines during his first-round match against No. 5 seed Tommy Paul, VIP guests tittered excitedly before quickly shrinking down in their seats after realizing he was only there to put up his towel and get a few words from his team behind them. And from the opposite stand, fans asked each other, “What’s up with that? Who does he keep talking to over there?”

In an ironic twist, the players who have seemed to benefit most from this setup are the lower-ranked players competing on the smaller courts, like Atlanta’s Grandstand—a trend likely to continue as the weeks go on and stadiums get even bigger during the US Open Series.

One of the main arguments against mid-match coaching is that it would give top players a bigger advantage over players who can’t afford to travel with a coach, or who share a coach with one or several other players. And indeed, in Atlanta there were several in this exact situation, sometimes pitted against players who are backed by an extensive entourage—further highlighting the gap that exists between the tour’s elite and the ones struggling to break even.

But if they have the means to travel with a coach, these players will essentially have unhindered access to them, and enjoy the ability to communicate more clearly and calmly. And for dedicated fans sitting nearby in the bleachers or watching at home, the format also provides a fascinating glimpse into the tactics and player-coach dynamics at the pro level—similar to the insight that the WTA’s on-court coaching brought, but minus all the drama.

“I think this is a little bit better version,” said Lucero, echoing the sentiment of several coaches on site. Lucero, who has plenty of WTA coaching experience, having worked with the likes of Eugenie Bouchard, Nicole Gibbs, Alison Riske-Amritraj and Shelby Rogers, said he doesn’t miss the old on-court coaching format.

“This is less hectic,” he explained. “There’s no limit on the amount of times you can coach, so there’s less drama around that one moment. You’re not overloading them with information. I think it’s definitely better for the player this way.”

And the WTA Tour agrees: in February 2020, they too began to test off-court coaching, using the same “sideline” format that the US Open used since 2017 and that the ATP is currently trialing. Should the men’s tour choose to make it a permanent fixture, it would bring tennis’ fragmented rules one step closer to uniformity.

The ATP will be collecting feedback from players and coaches and evaluating the trial at the end of the season, before making any decisions. The trial, which started on July 11, is set to run for the rest of the season through the ATP Finals, and will include the US Open. This means that, for the first time, we’ll see main draw, mid-match coaching at the pro level during the last Grand Slam of the year—and on tennis’ biggest and loudest stage of all.

But whether or not players will even be able to hear the tips from their coaches, amid the buzz of the New York City crowd on a rocking Arthur Ashe Stadium or Louis Armstrong Stadium, will be another question altogether.