New coaches Svitolina. What have they achieved and what can they give

Elina Svitolina has decided on a new coaching staff. An important and responsible step, because her team must provide a result at least as good as that proposed by Andrew Bettles. With the latter, she spent five very fruitful seasons and established herself among the stars of world tennis. This year, there was a stagnation in the game and a decline in results, so the farewell was obvious. We need something new, better and more efficient. Andis Yushka and Günter Bresnik should now deal with this.

Latvian Yushka is still quite a young specialist. His career as a coach at the highest level is still very short. However, while still a player, he coached children and youths, and quite successfully. Then he worked for some time with Spaniard Anabel Medina Gariguez (who focused on doubles), but in October 2017 he received an invitation to join the coaching staff of Elena Ostapenko.

It should be said that they have known Ostapenko for a long time. Andis worked with her when Elena was still competing in junior competitions, won three tournaments with him, performed well at the junior Roland Garros.

At the end of the 2017 season, Ostapenko was already a sensational winner of the elite Roland Garros. Yushka became an assistant head coach, gradually expanding his powers. First of all, she and the tennis player began to work on reducing the number of errors.

At the same time, he was the captain of the Latvian national team at the Billie Jean King Cup. The team had two stars – Ostapenko and Anastasia Sevastova, who did not get along with each other. The tension affected the results of the team. Yushka notes that reconciliation was achieved during the match against the Russian team for entry into the Second World Group. Several days of communication with his participation brought positive. Sevastova and Ostapenko improved relations, the atmosphere improved, Latvia won this match.

At the beginning of 2019, Yushka leaves Elena’s team and joins Amanda Anisimova’s headquarters. He himself refers to administrative problems. Ostapenko unexpectedly decided to play the first tournament of the season in China. Yushka didn’t have time to get a Chinese visa, so he didn’t go. Then there were similar problems with the Australian tournaments (although the visa was already). In the end, he decided to end the collaboration.

Ostapenko in 2018 (while Yushka was on her team) was unable to repeat her previous achievements. And later, in principle, she did not repeat anything like that. Of the main tournaments – the Wimbledon semi-final, the third round of the Australian Open and US Open, the final of the tournament in Miami. There was a failure at Roland Garros – the current champion lost in the first round to Ekaterina Kozlova. It should be said that the Ukrainian is an uncomfortable opponent for her and leads 3-0 in personal meetings with the Latvian.

At a new place of work, Andis could immediately become Anisimova’s head coach, but after long consultations, they decided to share powers with other specialists. He himself notes that the new team trusted him and respected his personal time.

As soon as the Latvian joined, Anisimova won her first tournament at the WTA level in Bogotá. It is unlikely that the direct merit of the new coach is so great, but the positive atmosphere in the team definitely contributed to this. In the same 2019, Amanda reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros, knocking out champion Simona Halep during the tournament.

It cannot be said that the American with Andis became a tennis star. It is rather a gradual development of a young tennis player. The pandemic has definitely not added positive to this development. Over the past year, Anisimova has significantly lost in the rankings. Of the interesting results of this season – two defeats from Elina Svitolina.

If Yushka is still a young coach, gaining his own experience among the elite, then Bresnik has enough of this experience. Probably, it was the Austrian who prompted to pay attention to Andis, whom he is well acquainted with.

Günther Bresnik has been coaching since the mid-1980s and has worked with Boris Becker and many other athletes. In his track record – more than two dozen tennis players from the first hundred. He educated both players and future coaches.

Ernest Gulbis once called Bresnik the best technical coach of all specialists. The value judgments of the Latvian (who also called himself the best player in the world) can be treated differently. But the main motive for his statements is that the work of the Austrian is highly valued.

Bresnik’s biggest last “project” is raising Dominic Thiem. The Austrian owes almost half (if not more) of all his skills, knowledge and skills to Bresnik. Günther is a longtime friend of Wolfgang Thiem, who brought his son Dominik to the specialist tennis academy at the age of three.

At some point, Bresnik personally took control of Tim’s development. In particular, at a young age I gave him a one-handed backhand. Tim noted that the new aggressive game had a short-term negative effect, a slight decline in the junior rankings. But it was of great importance for the further development of the player.

The talent and perseverance of the player, the efforts of his father (who also helped train his son) and Bresnik’s genius in staging technique created a real world star. Tim has grown to become the main competitor of the Big Three (Djokovic, Federer, Nadal), and has earned the nickname “prince of soil.”

But the team began to split. Bresnik was accused of draining the player with an unnecessarily busy calendar. The coach himself later pleaded guilty to Tim’s fatigue and related injuries. In the end, Gunther and Wolfgang, who had been friends for decades before, quarreled, and Bresnik stopped coaching Tim.

Dominic is often portrayed as a workaholic who works out fanatically in training. And he himself very often speaks of his game or preparation as hard and painstaking work. Obviously, having an authoritarian father coach and no less authoritarian head coach in the team, it could not be otherwise.

Under the leadership of Bresnik, Tim became a star, reached the third line of the world ranking, won many tournaments, several times was one step away from winning Roland Garros. After the break, there was also the final of the French Major, but the pandemic ruined everything. Tim is now far from his best condition. It is difficult to say whether he could have performed better under normal circumstances without Bresnik. But, most likely, with Gunther, he would have avoided such a decline as in 2021.

Since the fall of 2020, as an advisory, and since the winter of 2021, as an official head coach, Bresnik has been working with Gael Monfils. The start of the season was not very successful, but the second half was of high quality. Obviously, Monfils is pleased with the work with the Austrian – he would not advise bad things to his wife.

It is quite customary for Bresnik to delegate authority. He can calmly (and effectively) manage at a distance when his assistant is directly next to the tennis player. Or advises the head coach, as in the case of Elina.

For Andis Yushka, working with a player of the caliber of Svetolina is the first time. But he is trusted, he will not be left without support. Bresnik’s advice and experience should definitely come in handy. It turns out that we have a young coach with new ideas, and an experienced specialist who knows better than anyone in the world how to implement these ideas.

We are waiting for the new season.