In fact, Mouratoglou’s response was almost exactly what he told journalists when asked a similar question back in 2017, shortly after Williams tied Graf’s record in Melbourne:
“With all the respect to Margaret Court, it’s another era,” Mouratoglou said. “Of course the record is there, and we definitely want to beat it, but there is a professional era, and the record was Steffi Graf.”
Read More: Margaret Court says ‘Nobody will ever hit my 62’
Mouratoglou coached Williams for about a decade between 2012 and 2022, and the pair racked up 10 Grand Slam victories together along with a gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Williams won her last Grand Slam title in 2017, and reached a further four major finals after returning from maternity leave.
In 2023, Novak Djokovic equalled Court’s all-time count with his 24th major triumph at the US Open. The former world No. 1 is set to face Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open semifinals on Friday, as he seeks to stand alone in the tennis history books with a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam singles title.
