Mailbag: Seven Reasons Why Mid-Match Coaching is a Terrible Idea

Hey everyone…

Mid-match coaching doesn't belong in tennis, especially at big tournaments and majors. I don't even like it at smaller events, where we can eavesdrop on private conversations. Who's driving the agenda? Certainly not real fans!

—@cjkel

• We’ll continue banging this drum. The excellent Simon Briggs reported that the U.S. Open was planning on experimenting with on-court coaching. While the USTA has refuted this, I do know that the USTA has continued to push this and petition others on the Grand Slam board.

My usual points:

1. I hate this. It’s a true distortion of tennis. But what I really hate is the dishonesty. The USTA has tried to camouflage this fundamental change as an…