A look at some of the best and most prolific coaches in recent history
While tennis players are the most fundamental part of the sport, tennis coaches are like the icing on the cake. They take players who have great potential and mold them into their final form for the world to enjoy.
Many players would happily admit that they wouldn’t have achieved what they had without having a great coach, which is true. The more you follow tennis, the more you can see just how much tennis coaches have an impact.
Here’s a look at some of the most iconic tennis coaches in recent history.
Toni Nadal
Any kind of list without this man on it would be foolish, to say the least, because Toni Nadal created one of the biggest—if not the biggest—figures in the history of tennis. Rafael Nadal has a claim to being the greatest of all time, no one disputes that he’s the best ever on clay, but none of that would have happened without his uncle Toni.
What makes him so great? Well, let’s take the story of Rafa himself—a person who was considered a mama’s boy and somewhat lazy, yet became one of the hardest-working tennis players on the court. How and why? It was all thanks to Uncle Toni, who coached Nadal and instilled that pride in him. Not only that, but he taught him to remain humble in spite of everything, something he embodies even today.
While most tennis coaches could have taught Nadal to execute shots and play the right way, very few would have been able to mold him into the man he grew up to be. Without this he wouldn’t be half the player he ended up becoming. That, among many other reasons, is why Toni Nadal belongs on this list.
Nadal briefly worked with Felix Auger-Aliassime after parting with Rafa, and is now head coach at the Rafael Nadal Academy.
Richard Williams
Some people might find this pick somewhat controversial because they might not consider Richard Williams a coach. In many ways, he’s not a traditional coach. But when you raise and coach two historic all-time great players—including the best ever in the women’s game—then you have to be on the list. There is no way to deny the profound impact he had on his daughters Serena and Venus.
Williams taught them the sport, helped them make their first moves, and the lessons he instilled early on allowed them to become as good as they ended up being—because, as we know, fundamentals are the most important.
By the time they started being coached by other players, the foundation was already in place, and that’s why King Richard belongs on the list.
Magnus Norman
Before we continue with our list of the most iconic tennis coaches in history, we have to note that it will be somewhat biased—but we are backing up our claims with results.
Magnus Norman (image on top) coached two fantastic tennis players who happened to play their best tennis under him. Coincidence? We think not.
Robin Söderling was never as good as he was under Norman, and he was a really good tennis player. He bested Rafael Nadal at his peak at Roland-Garros. He also became a legend among Roger Federer fans when he lost in the French Open final to him as well.
Another player he coached was Stan Wawrinka, and that was a rather big transformation as well. The Swiss player has a case for being named the fourth-best player in the era of the Big Three, because he went against them and bested them a couple of times.
He won three Grand Slams during his peak years, which is the same amount as Andy Murray did. A lot of people forget how good Wawrinka was at his peak, and none of that would have happened without Norman helping him unlock his full potential.
Brad Gilbert
Another name that deserves to be on this list purely from the amount of players he coached—Brad Gilbert. He was a fine player in his own right, but as a coach, that’s where he shined. He predominantly worked with Andre Agassi, guiding him to six of the eight Grand Slam trophies the American won.
Agassi was at his best under the guidance of Gilbert. Then he went on to coach several other prominent players at times, helping them become better versions of themselves as well.
Other players he has coached include Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, Kei Nishikori, and Coco Gauff. Gauff is the most recent player he coached, helping her win her maiden Grand Slam trophy at the US Open in 2023.
So the résumé is impressive—very few players have done what he’s done, and the sheer amount of big names who have trusted him shows how well-respected he is in the community.
Darren Cahill
Another coach who was a former player is Darren Cahill, who stood in the US Open final at one point in his career.
He is here mostly because of recent bias. We have to acknowledge that tennis has never been more competitive, so the coaches who did amazing work in recent years should be here, with all due respect to the coaches that came before.
He coached Lleyton Hewitt, guiding him to become world number one—the second-youngest world number one ever. He went on to coach Agassi, guiding him to become the oldest number one at that time in 2003.
He then worked with a number of players through Adidas, including Andy Murray, Ana Ivanovic, Fernando Verdasco, Daniela Hantuchová, Sorana Cîrstea and Simona Halep. It was with Halep that he had more success, coaching her to become world number one and winning a Grand Slam trophy.
Since parting ways with Halep, Cahill has worked with Jannik Sinner, whom he started coaching in 2022. Since then, Sinner has gone on to win three Grand Slam trophies and become world number one. So, with a résumé like that—and in this era of tennis—Cahill belongs on this list.
He also gets confused a lot with Brad Gilbert, so let’s contribute to that a bit more, as they do look alike and always wear hats.
