By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday March 10, 2022
One week into a fledgling partnership with Morgan Bourbon, the former coach of Benoit Paire, and making a switch to base herself out of the Mouratoglou Academy, Simona Halep says she still isn’t playing at the level she seeks.
“Honestly, I'm not that close, in my opinion,” Halep said after her three-set win over Ekaterina Alexandrova on Friday at the BNP Paribas Open. “But I'm working hard to do that. I'm focused on some things. I just stick to the plan.
“Of course, with matches, I need matches. Hopefully I can win one or two or more matches. I need that confidence. But physically I'm super good. I feel healthy, I feel in a good shape. So it's just a matter of time to come back to the level I had. I'm not stressing about that. I'm just doing as much as possible every day to get to that level.”
Halep told reporters that she took the advice of Darren Cahill and switched her training base to the Mouratoglou Academy in Nice, France. It isn’t a long-term commitment to the academy yet, she says.
“I'm looking at Mouratoglou Academy,” Helsp said. “I've been there before coming here. I have a coach here and a hitting partner from the academy. Actually Darren pushed me to go there because he respects Patrick a lot. He thought it's the best choice for me because it's close to my home. It was. It was a great week over there. I really enjoyed it. It's amazing what he's done there. Many kids. The atmosphere was super, super nice.
“Actually I've seen those kids that are dreaming to become professional tennis players. It was a nice vibe. I can say I took what I needed from there. It was important to go there.”
The Romanian says she has worked with Bourbon for just one week, and added that she has never had a coach that is younger than her – the Frenchman is 28.
It's tough to say something. But he's a good guy. He knows tennis. He knows what he's doing. I'm trying, yeah, to know him better this period. “Tt's a lot of talking because we don't know each other. I like to keep my routine. Yeah, I've done this for many years. He adjusts himself to me. I'm listening when he has an opinion. It's combined. I never had a coach younger than me. It's the first time.”
Halep will face Coco Gauff in the third round at Indian Wells. The Romanian topped Gauff at Wimbledon in 2019, 6-3, 6-3, in the round of 16. It was Gauff’s breakout tournament, and also for Halep, who went on to claim her first Wimbledon title later in the week.