We had arguments about her weight," Mouratoglou breaks silence on Serena Williams

Patrick Mouratoglou has revisited his collaboration with Serena Williams and the tensions they had after her pregnancy concerning her weight. For the French coach, every kilogram mattered to preserve her performance and avoid injuries.

In late August, Serena Williams appeared in American media to promote Ro, a telemedicine company that helps its patients lose weight using GLP-1 injections, an intestinal hormone.

A leading figure of body positivity during her career, the American, winner of 23 Grand Slams, surprised and sparked controversy in the United States. She notably explained that she had lost 14 kilograms with the help of this treatment, which has gone viral in the United States.

In an interview with The Guardian, Patrick Mouratoglou, her former mentor, admitted that he had had conflicts in the past concerning the American champion's weight, mainly a few months after she gave birth to her first daughter Olympia:

"I remember it very well. It was after her pregnancy, but not right after, because I know these things take time. I told her: 'Listen, this isn't a comment on your appearance. That's not my concern. But tennis is not a sport where you can be overweight.'

First, the level of pressure on your joints and everything else is so high that your chances of injury increase significantly. Second, it's a sport where you constantly change direction and with a lot of speed.

Even one extra kilogram is too much. When you're going at full speed in one direction and then have to stop and come back, the time you lose with that extra kilogram is significant.

In Serena's case, she was older, so the body isn't going to bounce back like before, and the risks of injury are even greater. We had a few arguments about it. I remember she didn't like my comments because she thought I was criticizing her. But I kept telling her: 'That's not my job. My job is tennis.'

If you want to come back and write history, then you have to be effective at every level, including this one, which for me was a key element. I'm not the type to look back and have regrets. But yes, if she had been in the same physical condition (as today), the results would have been different.