Former Wimbledon winner Jana Novotna still madly in love with tennis

At 46, Novotna finds herself fascinated by the sport even more than when she was a player herself.

Not many people know that Novotna herself is one of those “super-coaches” an ex-champion who has returned to today’s game to guide the current generation.

Novotna has previously coached Barotli (c) and now works with Krejcikova but believes a female coach will only work with certain male players.
Few women have re-entered the tennis scene in a coaching capacity recently, including Martina Navratilova (helping Agnieszka Radwanska), Lindsay Davenport (working with Madison Keys) and Amelie Mauresmo (coaching Andy Murray).

“Not every player knows how to coach.

On the women’s tour, Novotna sees Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova in a league of their own and doesn’t think Simona Halep can enter that league.

“Halep is going to be always good, always consistent and she may win grand slams but she’s going to be one of those players I don’t mean it in a bad way nobody will remember.

A good player, solid, feisty, consistent but it’s not ‘wow’,” says Novotna.

“When you think about it, there are always very few players that we actually remember.