Williams sisters not ready to retire: New coach

LONDON • Already coaching one American tennis icon, Eric Hechtman added another: logging the extra miles and the extra hours to try to help both Venus and Serena Williams get the most out of their remaining matches or seasons.

"If they are both good with it, I'm absolutely good with it," Hechtman said at Wimbledon. "They are family. They are super close with each other. It's been great so far."

Hechtman, a 38-year-old club pro and father of three from Miami, jokes he is "old" but he is younger than both his star pupils.

Venus is 42. Serena is 40. But neither is ready to retire even if Venus has not played on the WTA Tour in nearly a year, while Serena played her first singles match in a year yesterday when she took on unseeded Frenchwoman Harmony Tan in the first round - that result was not known by press time.

Venus is not playing in the singles or women's doubles here but could still take a wild-card entry into the mixed doubles.

The sisters like to keep their plans private for as long as possible, but it seems doubtful that Venus would have made the trip across the Atlantic just to attend a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert on Sunday with her half-sister, Isha Price, and Hechtman.

"Lots of fun," said Hechtman, who did not confirm Venus' Wimbledon plans but did confirm that she is not ready to call it a career. "I don't want to necessarily speak for their plans, but they are definitely not ready to retire.

"Look, they both love the game. They are both champions. They both love working hard and putting in the work. So, as long as you've got that, who's to say you can set parameters on things, right?"

The Williams sisters were raised to ignore the usual tennis boundaries: playing very little junior tennis before turning pro and being encouraged by their parents to actively pursue outside interests.

There were sceptics early, just as there are sceptics now as both siblings have become part-time players at best in their 40s, but there is no arguing with their achievements or their staying power.

"They've broken barriers for everything, for women, for the way the game is played," Hechtman said. "They transcended tennis from a power perspective, and they are continuing to do it at their age. And I don't think they even think about that."

Hechtman, a self-described "tennis nerd," was a successful junior who went on to play at the University of Miami.

"He has always been brutally honest, for better or worse, and I think that has to be refreshing for people like Venus and Serena who are two legends to have someone who can be brutally honest without an agenda," said Evan Zeder, an old friend and head of global tennis sports marketing for New Balance.

Hechtman has spent much of the past 15 years developing junior players, but he also has worked as an occasional hitting partner for pro players. He said he was first introduced to Venus around 2008 and eventually hit it off with Serena as well, but both sisters had their own long-term coaches.

But after Venus split with David Witt, she hired Hechtman in 2019, and after Serena split with Patrick Mouratoglou earlier this year, she linked up with Hechtman.

Serena was back at Wimbledon without Mouratoglou, who helped her win 10 Grand Slam singles titles in 10 years together.

When asked for her thoughts on it, she said: "Oh my, I didn't even think about it. I don't know.

"It feels good. I'm having a wonderful time here."

Hechtman can vouch for that, saying: "You can just see it in their eyes, the passion for it. I've been on the court with any type of person you can imagine...

"This is the best experience so far, and you can take what they've accomplished out of the equation.

"It's about their attitude and how a practice goes. If you're a tennis nerd, it's as good as it gets."

NYTIMES