Serena Williams' former coach has opened up about the fights he used to have with the tennis legend over her weight bump.
In an interview with The Guardian published on Thursday, September 11, Patrick Mouratoglou explained Williams' comments, where she shared that her coach said she needed to lose weight to be a better tennis player.
"Oh I remember it very well," the coach, who helped Williams win 10 of her Grand Slam titles, said. "It was after the pregnancy – not right after; I know these things take time. I told her, 'Listen, this is not a comment on how you look. It's not my problem.'"
The now-retired tennis player shares two daughters, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, 8, and Adira Ohanian, 2, with her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.
Her former coach continued, "But tennis is a sport in which you can't afford to be overweight. First of all, the pressure on your joints and everything is so big that your chances [of injury] become much higher. The second thing is it's a sport in which you change directions all the time and with a lot of speed. Even one kilo overweight is a lot."
Explaining, he pointed out the world's top tennis players' form, noting, "Just look at the best players in the world – [Carlos] Alcaraz, [Jannik] Sinner, [Novak] Djokovic. Think about their movement. The weight was affecting her movement."
Mouratoglou said he remembered having several fights about the issue because Williams felt judged.
Last month, the tennis player revealed she used a GLP-1 to help her achieve her weight loss goals and has since lost 31 pounds.
"I feel great," she told the People at the time. "I feel really good and healthy. I feel light physically and light mentally."
She also acknowledged the controversy surrounding the use of GLP-1s but remained adamant that the medication helped her get the best out of her healthy eating and workout routines.