Nigel Sears
Nigel Sears(born 4 April 1957) is a Britishtenniscoach, best known for coaching former top five playersAmanda Coetzer,Daniela HantuchováandAna Ivanovicduring his long career.
Playing career[edit]
Sears reached a career high singles ranking of World No. 382 on 4 January 1982, and a career high doubles ranking of World No. 581 on 2 January 1984.[1]He lost his only professional singles match, but won two of the ten professional doubles matches he played.
Coaching career[edit]
Nigel Sears started coaching Slovakia'sDaniela Hantuchováin 2001. Under his guidance, Hantuchová reached the world's top ten, won theIndian Wellstournament in California (though that would be her only career title until exactly five years later) and reached three consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals between the2002 Wimbledon Championshipsand the2003 Australian Open(losing twice toSerena Williamsand once toVenus Williamsrespectively).
It was during 2003 that the coaching relationship between Sears and Hantuchová started to come into question. At theFrench Open,Hantuchová lost a marathon second round match toAshley Harkleroadin which she made over 100 unforced errors, which led to Sears publicly criticising her attitude.[2][3]Having reached a career high ranking of World No. 5 earlier in the year, Hantuchová's results continued to deteriorate and by the end of the year she had dropped to No. 17, leading to a decision to temporarily split with Sears.[4]
Sears and Hantuchová reunited in 2004,[5]but on-court results did not improve, as Hantuchová further slipped down to World No. 54 before a late season resurgence saw her finish the season ranked World No. 31 and with an even win–loss record (24 wins and 24 losses).
The pair split permanently in 2006,[6]after which Sears was appointed the captain of theGreat Britain Fed Cup team.[7]
In June 2011, Sears was appointed the head coach of former WTA World No. 1Ana Ivanovic,with a view of reviving her ailing career.[8]Since his appointment, Ivanovic's performances atGrand Slam tournamentsimproved, and at the2012 US Openshe was finally able to reach her first quarter-final at that level since winning the2008 French Open.[9][10][11]
However, success was hard to come by, with Ivanovic being unable to beat top ten players on a regular basis and having reached a final since November 2011, and having suffered many heavy defeats along the way (Ivanovic has suffered five 6–0 set losses since July 2012, including adouble-bagelloss at the2012 Rogers Cup). This led to questions being asked about Ivanovic's progress since appointing Sears as coach in 2011.[12]
Sears was sacked as Ivanovic's coach followingWimbledon 2013,in which Ivanovic was defeated in the second round byEugenie Bouchard.The promise that Sears planned in trying to revive Ivanovic's career was never delivered, as she was only able to win one title, regularly failed to beat players ranked above her and wasbageled(lost 6–0) five times, in addition to failing to reach a single final in 2012.[13]
In July 2015 Sears was reappointed by Ivanovic.[14]During the2016 Australian OpenSears collapsed in the stands whilst watching an Ivanovic match. He was taken to hospital, but released the following morning.[15]He subsequently laid the blame on an allergic reaction to sushi.[16]The partnership ended for a second time with Ivanovic's retirement from tennis in December 2016.[17]
Sears began working withEkaterina Makarovain the summer of 2017.[18]in June 2018 he began coaching the Estonian playerAnett Kontaveitbut that arrangement came to an end in April 2021.[19]
Sears was a regular commentator forBT Sport,who used to cover the WTA in the UK.[citation needed]
Personal life[edit]
Sears resides in the south of England. He is married and has two children.[citation needed]His daughter, Kim, married tennis playerAndy Murrayin 2015.[20]
References[edit]
- ^"Nigel Sears: ATP Tour; Tennis".ATP Tour.
- ^"A towering talent".The Age.29 June 2003.
- ^Angry Sears lays into HantuchovaThe Daily Telegraph
- ^"Hantuchova splits with coach".BBC Sport. 6 November 2003.
- ^"Hantuchova rehires Sears".Rediff.
- ^"Hantuchova parts with coach again".BBC Sport. 25 April 2006.
- ^"Sears appointed Fed Cup captain".BBC Sport. 11 December 2006.
- ^"British tennis chief to coach ex-No. 1 Ivanovic".ESPN.30 June 2011.
- ^"Ruthless Serena storms into quarter-final".abc.net.au.3 September 2012.
- ^"Five things about the revival of Ana Ivanovic".The Tennis Space.4 September 2012.
- ^"Women's Tennis Association – Official Website".Women's Tennis Association.
- ^"Ana Ivanovic is not back to her best yet".theroar.au.
- ^Ana and Sears parts ways,The Ana Ivanovic official website
- ^Ivanovic again working with coach Nigel Sears,Tennis Magazine
- ^Nigel Sears due to leave hospital after Australian Open collapse,Stuff.co.nz
- ^Nigel Sears explains Australian Open collapse, Murray's reaction,Tennis Magazine
- ^"Ivanovic retires from tennis aged 29".BBC Sport.
- ^"Anett Kontaveit: Kontaveit has ended the contract with Schaap and will now be coached by a British coach".Anett Kontaveit: Kontaveit has ended the contract with Schaap and will now be coached by a British coach.
- ^"Anett Kontaveit gets new coach".ERR.26 April 2021.
- ^"Andy Murray marries girlfriend Kim Sears in Dunblane".BBC News. 11 April 2015.Retrieved11 April2015.