Coaches Corner: Sam Sumyk ready to coach himself out of a job

NEW YORK, New York - Sam Sumyk, the coach of Garbiñe Muguruza, admits they had “no build-up” to this US Open with a right arm injury limiting his charge’s schedule post-Wimbledon, but he insists they will “fight for every point” with plenty to play for until the end of the season.

Muguruza – whose Wimbledon title defense ended in the second round last month at the hands of Alison van Uytvanck – was forced to withdraw from San Jose and Montreal due to her arm injury.

Her sole match contested between the grass season and the US Open was a three-set defeat to Lesia Tsurenko in Cincinnati, where she was also the defending champion. She dropped out of the Top 10 in the rankings as a result.  

Before she left the press conference room in Mason, Ohio, she told reporters that her previous experience of winning two majors gives her the belief that she can always bounce back at a Grand Slam, irrespective of her results or form going into it.

“I believe that I don't have to be 100 percent ready or in the best moment of your life to win it. I know that behind every Grand Slam there are crazy stories, I'm sure, for everybody, that you ended up winning and maybe you never thought it was going to happen, things like that,” explained the Spaniard, who is seeded No.12 at the US Open this fortnight, and began her campaign with a straight-sets win over Zhang Shuai on Monday.

“So it makes me believe that so many things are possible. Doesn't mean that it's going to happen. Just experience to work hard and to never lose the motivation to believe you can do it.”

Sumyk, who has been working with Muguruza for nearly three years, and saw her rise to the No.1 ranking last season, is proud of her ability to rise from difficult situations, but, naturally, would have liked her to come to New York with more than one hardcourt match under her belt this summer.

“I kind of agree with her, I believe her also in some ways, but I’d rather if we have a lot of matches under the belt, but that’s the coach’s point of view,” the Frenchman told WTA Insider on Monday.

“But it’s very good to have a player that can obviously turn things around when things are not going that well. So I think she has this quality, that if she has a lot of matches of course she takes it, you’re happy about it, but if she doesn’t it, that’s one of her strengths, you know that anything can happen.

“She can make it happen. This is true. But if you ask me to choose, of course I prefer [a streak of wins], I’m sure she does as well, she’d choose that option too.”

Muguruza has never made it past the fourth round in any of her five previous US Open main draw appearances but started strong on Monday, against an opponent she had lost to in the past.

Sumyk couldn’t draw many conclusions ahead of the Open, due to Muguruza’s lack of match play, but is confident about what is to come.

“We had no build-up, it was almost straight from Wimbledon. We didn’t have the summer we wanted to have. But the year is not over. So we will fight for every point and we’re going to try to finish really, really strong,” he assures.

Muguruza, who next faces Czech qualifier Karolina Muchova in the second round, said on Monday that it’s been a balancing act, staying healthy, while also putting I the hard yards I preparation for the final Grand Slam of the season, but both her and Sumyk believe she is ready to compete here.

“I think we have everything,” Sumyk says when asked where he believes Muguruza is at right now.  

“I think it might sound crazy what I’m going to say. But I think we’re improving a little bit everywhere, all we need to do is to wire everything together and that’s what we’re trying to do.

“Because I think sometimes when you learn new things, then it’s a new process, a new step, it’s a new stage. What you knew already, what was already working, it’s kind of like your comfort zone so we’re trying to get out of there and see if we can be a little bit better. But that takes, sometimes, a step back to go forward again.

“Sometimes it takes just a little bit of time. Sometimes, there are a few things that are new for me and I don’t know how to deal with that yet, I don’t know how to put all these together. I have a feeling we’re at that stage.”

Sumyk has vast experience coaching on the WTA Tour with his resume including stints with Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka, and Eugenie Bouchard.

Asked to elaborate on his coaching philosophy, the Frenchman said: "I think it depends on the personality of each player, it’s different. But as a coach, I’m very pleased if basically one day my player says, ‘I don’t need you’. Not, 'I don’t need you on my side and traveling and keep guiding me and stuff', but basically, ‘I have all the tools to figure it out on my own’.

"Agassi always said that ‘a very good coach is a coach that takes his player to a place where the player doesn’t need a coach anymore’. And I like that idea. That if that’s the feeling she has, I’m doing a very good job.

And does he feel Muguruza is reaching that stage of self-reliance?

“I think so, yes. I think she has a lot of tools. And hopefully more and more often, she knows how to use them, because it’s not that simple. I’d rather more tools than less tools, put it this way. And she’s a very intelligent player and person so I think she can figure out what to do,” he says.  

“It’s a lot about learning about yourself basically, because everybody hits the ball pretty damn good. So it’s a lot of pretty important introspection work, it’s the mirror effect. It’s a long process. But I think she has the capacity, the intelligence, the tools, so I guess yes, she doesn’t need a lot of people.”