Serena Williams' former coach has spoken out about a past disagreement with the tennis star regarding her post-pregnancy weight. The 43-year-old recently shared that she had lost 30Ibs with the help of the weight-loss drug Zepbound, a GLP-1 medication. Serena's trainer, Patrick Mouratoglou, revealed that he had "fights" with the athlete during an interview on TODAY. "Oh I remember it very well. It was after the pregnancy – not right after; I know these things take time. I told her, 'Listen, this is not a comment on how you look. It's not my problem,'" he shared.
"But tennis is a sport in which you can't afford to be overweight. First of all, the pressure on your joints and everything is so big that your chances become much higher." He continued: "The second thing is it's a sport in which you change directions all the time and with a lot of speed. Even one kilo overweight is a lot. When you go full speed in one direction with one kilo extra and then need to stop and come back, the time that you lose is really important."
Patrick went on to explain how Serena's weight change was hindering her movement when playing tennis. "Just look at the best players in the world – [Carlos] Alcaraz, [Jannik] Sinner, [Novak] Djokovic. Think about their movement. The weight was affecting her movement," he added.
The coach went on to admit that the conversation sparked a disagreement between the a pair. "In Serena's case, she was older – so of course the body is not going to bounce back the same as before, and the risk of injury is even bigger. We had a few fights about it. I remember she did not like when I said that because she thought I was judging her. But I kept telling her, I don't care about your look," he said.
Patrick continued: "It's not my job. My job is your tennis. If you want to come back to the top and make history, then we have to be very efficient on every level – including this one, which for me was the key element."
Serena's weight loss
Serena opened up to People about using weight loss medication to achieve her figure. After giving birth to her second child, Adira, in 2023, Serena began to take a GLP-1 medication, which has helped her lose over 30 lbs.
"I feel great," she said. "I feel really good and healthy. I feel light physically and light mentally." She continued: "I never was able to get to the weight I needed to be, no matter what I did, no matter how much I trained. It was crazy, because I'd never been in a place like that in my life where I worked so hard, ate so healthy, and could never get down to where I needed to be at."