Bjorn Fratangelo admits it is true that he felt “uncomfortable” with the idea of coaching Madison Keys but ultimately accepted the role after his wife convinced him to do so.
As you probably know very well, the American WTA star is off to her best start to a season after winning back-to-back titles at the Adelaide International and the Australian Open.
After she became a Grand Slam champion at the age of 29 in Melbourne, one of the things that many brought up was the fact that he was being coached by an ATP player and her husband Fratangelo for the past year and a half.
A couple of days later, Keys was asked about it during her appearance on Good Morning America.
And she funnily shed light on how that happened, revealing that her husband wasn’t really comfortable with being her coach but she “forced” him to do so.
Fratangelo opens up to Andy Roddick about coaching Keys
“I was still having a lot of pain, so I didn’t really want to hit too much. All of sudden, I was behind her and I was like this feels weird. ‘I don’t like telling you what to do, I’m uncomfortable,” the former world No. 99 told the 2003 US Open champion on the Served with Andy Roddick.
Bjorn Fratangelo© Served with Andy Roddick/YouTube
“It was just like her with a couple of junior boys that were there and then me kind of just feeding them in.
“Then it slowly turned into her being like, ‘I need help. I need serious help and please help me’ and I was like, okay.
“Once I grappled with the fact that ‘okay, now I actually have to tell her what to do,’ it became a little easier for me because it’s coming from her.
“I could sense that there was a lot of doubt and a lot of just anxiety towards how she was playing through that period.”
Also, Fratangelo noted that it wasn’t a traditional coach/player partnership because they were living together and it wasn’t like they needed to get to know each other in order to work better.
Meanwhile, the American ATP player isn’t officially retired but he hasn’t played since 2023 August.
Considering how he has been doing in his role as Keys’ coach, all the chances are that he will continue with his current role.
Tennis World USA