Who coaches the Wimbledon greats?
Tennis coaching is serious business.
Unlike the mockery that has been associated with the Indian cricket team's coaching job, in an individual sport like tennis, the players make their pick.
At Wimbledon, the big guns take whatever it does to last the fortnight and lay their hands eventually on the trophy. I know it may not be very appropriate to compare the coach's job between cricket and tennis. The grapevine says Virat Kohli wants a coach of his choice.
Whether he gets it or not is not will be known soon. In tennis, players can pick coaches as they hire them at fancy salaries. Being a fiercely independent sport, the tennis player, be it an average professional or Grand Slam champion, hires who he feels is the best to guide him.
The job entails not just putting the player through on court drills but working on a whole package. Take the big four coaches who are working at Wimbledon this fortnight.
Each one has his job cut out. It's based totally on performance and there is nothing called "long run" in this cut-throat job.
Local hero and national British icon Andy Murray utilises the services of Ivan Lendl as coach.
Seems strange, doesn't it, as Lendl never won Wimbledon. The harder he tried to conquer grass, the more Lendl failed. At his time, in the 80s, he said grass was for the cows. That, perhaps, was in sheer frustration as today Lendl now earns his bread and butter as coach where his ward has to excel on grass!
How far Murray goes into the draw with suspect fitness remains to be seen as "Manic Monday" at Wimbledon features all the men's and women's singles players at Wimbledon.
For his part, not having won Wimbledon will mark Lendl as a coach who knows what is that extra bit someone has to do to win the title here. Murray is the defending champion and where Lendl would be guiding him is soaking in the pressure as the local hero and also fine-tuning the gameplan to a nicety.
Should Murray not go on to win the title in this edition, Lendl will be under pressure as he would have to partly take the blame.
Move on to Andre Agassi, who is now coaching Novak Djokovic, a multiple Grand Slam champion who is now going through a confidence crisis. What prompted Djokovic to hire Agassi can be speculated.
As one who dominated world tennis for close to five years, Djokovic needs to win one more Grand Slam title again to be back on the rails. Agassi has played at the highest level and as winner of every Grand Slam on different surfaces and an Olympic champion in 1996 Atlanta, he carries with him vast experience.
Well after completing his career, Agassi had written a book where he did suggest he had done drugs. That was a shocker for the entire tennis fraternity. However, today, the drug sin has been forgotten and Agassi is hoping to guide Djokovic as a player who has suddenly lost his rhythm and hunger for winning.
Talk of flamboyance, Pat Cash is in the coaching business and has taken on promising American girl Coco Vandeweghe. Cash, the one-time Wimbledon champion who loves rock music as much as tennis, is seen as a good tactician.
Unlike the serious and boring tennis coaches, Cash carries great currency as an easy going guy on and off the court. He plays the seniors tennis Tour. Recently, his ward Coco was asked how she felt about Cash.
Her reply mentioned rock music and the bands which Cash talked of were kind of historic. Yet, as a coach, maturity matters and the easy-going Cash who patented the wet and colourful bandana is in demand as a tennis coach.
Like Cash, one more coach who takes his job very seriously is Carlos Moya. One of the best performers players on clay during his days, Moya, the former French Open champion who was known for his pile-driver forehand, is now coaching none other than Rafael Nadal.
Nadal has been in incredible form this year. For him to part with uncle Toni Nadal and hire a former player as his guru was a big decision. Moya has a special aura and his cool demeanour is seen as a big plus.
We all know, nobody needs to teach Nadal or Roger Federer tennis strokes. Where the coach becomes important is in ensuring the top gun is able to soak in every ounce of pressure and rise to the top in the finale.
Indeed, coaching in tennis is glamorous and very demanding. Yet, you live by the day, literally!