Serena Williams' ex-coach issues strong criticism of Margaret Court's 24 Slams being considered above Steffi Graf & American legend's

Serena Williams' ex-coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, has recently criticized the consideration of Margaret Court's 24 Grand Slam titles as superior to Steffi Graf's and other American legends.

The 54-year-old Frenchman has had a decorated career, coaching many tennis stars to titles since he began in 1999. He has coached stars like Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Grigor Dimitrov, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Simona Halep, Holger Rune and Serena Williams, among others. He is currently coaching Naomi Osaka.

With Margaret Court's Grand Slam record of 24 singles titles still unbroken, a debate continues over the validity of her record, as 13 of her 24 titles were acheived before the Open Era.

On Thursday, a fan on X stated that Steffi Graf, with 22 Grand Slams, was considered the GOAT. However, when Serena Williams surpassed that record with 23 titles, the conversation shifted. Suddenly, Margaret Court's mixed-era Grand Slam record made her the GOAT. She added that Court's record didn’t count and wondered why her ex-coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, didn’t talk about this openly.

“Steffi Graf was considered the GOAT with 22 Slams. .... until Serena Williams got 23. All of a sudden, Margaret Court with her mix of Open Era and pre-Open Era titles because the best-ever. I am very curious why @serenawilliams and perhaps @pmouratoglou didn't talk about this openly? Serena Williams should never have been put under so much pressure by the media and tennis establishment to overtake Margaret Court. Court's 24 Slams simply do not count,“ the fan said.

Patrick Mouratoglou later responded to the post, saying he has often stated that Margaret Court’s record was set before tennis became professional and can’t be compared to Open Era Grand Slams.

“I said it a million times. With all due respect, the record of Margaret Court was establish at a time when tennis was not even a professional sport. Winning GS at that time can never be considered as winning GS in the open era,” he noted.

Mouratoglou coached Serena Williams from 2012 to 2022. Together, they won 10 Grand Slam titles and the 2012 London Olympics women’s singles gold medal.

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Margaret Court - “I came back after two babies! After having the first baby, I won three out of the four Slams. And Serena Williams hasn’t won a Slam since”

US Open Tennis Championship 2022 - Source: Getty

In a 2022 interview with The Telegraph, Margaret Court stated that she returned to tennis after having two children and won three Grand Slams, while Serena Williams hasn’t won one since. She added that Serena played seven more years whereas she finished in her early thirties.

“I came back after two babies! After having the first baby, I won three out of the four slams. And Serena hasn’t won a slam since. Serena has played seven years more than I did. I finished in my early 30s," Margaret Court said.

"People forget that I took two years out. I first retired, like Ash Barty, when I was 25, thinking I would never return to tennis. I got married, had a baby, but then had one of my best years, winning 24 out of 25 tournaments,” she added.

Williams gave birth to her first daughter, Olympia, in 2017 and got married the same year. She returned to the WTA Tour in 2018, but upon her return, she reached four Grand Slam finals but failed to win any. She won only the 2020 ASB Classic during that period.