Nigel Sears
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nigel Sears (born 4 April 1957) is a British
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
coach, best known for coaching former top five players
Amanda Coetzer Amanda Coetzer (born 22 October 1971, in Hoopstad) is a South African former professional tennis player. Coetzer finished in the WTA rankings top 20 for ten consecutive seasons (1992–2001), peaking at world No. 3. She reached three Grand Slam ...
,
Daniela Hantuchová Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Masters, defeating Mar ...
and
Ana Ivanovic Ana Schweinsteiger ( sr, Ана Швајнштајгер / ''Ana Švajnštajger''; born 6 November 1987), professionally known by her birth name Ana Ivanovic (Ана Ивановић / ''Ana Ivanović'', ), is a Serbian former world No. 1 tenn ...
during his long career.


Playing career

Sears reached a career high singles ranking of World No. 382 on 4 January 1982, and a career high doubles ranking of World No. 581 on 2 January 1984. He lost his only professional singles match, but won two of the ten professional doubles matches he played.


Coaching career

Nigel Sears started coaching Slovakia's
Daniela Hantuchová Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Masters, defeating Mar ...
in 2001. Under his guidance, Hantuchová reached the world's top ten, won the Indian Wells tournament in California (though that would be her only career title until exactly five years later) and reached three consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals between the
2002 Wimbledon Championships The 2002 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 116th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fr ...
and the 2003 Australian Open (losing twice to
Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
and once to
Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
respectively). It was during 2003 that the coaching relationship between Sears and Hantuchová started to come into question. At the
French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
, Hantuchová lost a marathon second round match to
Ashley Harkleroad Ashley Harkleroad Adams (born May 2, 1985) is a former professional American tennis player. She reached a career-high ranking in singles of 39 in June 2003. Career Raised in Chickamauga, Georgia (near Chattanooga, Tennessee), Harkleroad turned p ...
in which she made over 100 unforced errors, which led to Sears publicly criticising her attitude. Having reached a career high ranking of World No. 5 earlier in the year, Hantuchová's results continued to deteriorate and by the end of the year she had dropped to No. 17, leading to a decision to temporarily split with Sears. Sears and Hantuchová reunited in 2004, but on-court results did not improve, as Hantuchová further slipped down to World No. 54 before a late season resurgence saw her finish the season ranked World No. 31 and with an even win–loss record (24 wins and 24 losses). The pair split permanently in 2006, after which Sears was appointed the captain of the
Great Britain Fed Cup team The Great Britain Billie Jean King Cup team represents the United Kingdom in Fed Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Lawn Tennis Association. In 2020, they lost out on a chance to secure a place at the inaugural Billie Jean King Cup f ...
. In June 2011, Sears was appointed the head coach of former WTA World No. 1
Ana Ivanovic Ana Schweinsteiger ( sr, Ана Швајнштајгер / ''Ana Švajnštajger''; born 6 November 1987), professionally known by her birth name Ana Ivanovic (Ана Ивановић / ''Ana Ivanović'', ), is a Serbian former world No. 1 tenn ...
, with a view of reviving her ailing career. Since his appointment, Ivanovic's performances at Grand Slam tournaments improved, and at the 2012 US Open she was finally able to reach her first quarter-final at that level since winning the
2008 French Open The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 112th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 25 May until 8 J ...
. However, success was hard to come by, with Ivanovic being unable to beat top ten players on a regular basis and having reached a final since November 2011, and having suffered many heavy defeats along the way (Ivanovic has suffered five 6–0 set losses since July 2012, including a double-bagel loss at the
2012 Rogers Cup The 2012 Rogers Cup (known as such for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 123rd edition (for the men) and the 111th (for the women) of the Canadian Open (tennis), Canadian Open, and was part of t ...
). This led to questions being asked about Ivanovic's progress since appointing Sears as coach in 2011. Sears was sacked as Ivanovic's coach following Wimbledon 2013, in which Ivanovic was defeated in the second round by
Eugenie Bouchard Eugenie "Genie" Bouchard (; french: Eugénie Bouchard, ; born February 25, 1994) is a Canadian tennis player. At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first Canadian-born player representing Canada to reach the final of a Grand Slam t ...
. The promise that Sears planned in trying to revive Ivanovic's career was never delivered, as she was only able to win one title, regularly failed to beat players ranked above her and was bageled (lost 6–0) five times, in addition to failing to reach a single final in 2012. In July 2015 Sears was reappointed by Ivanovic. During the
2016 Australian Open The 2016 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016. It was the 104th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of event ...
Sears collapsed in the stands whilst watching an Ivanovic match. He was taken to hospital, but released the following morning. He subsequently laid the blame on an allergic reaction to sushi. The partnership ended for a second time with Ivanovic's retirement from tennis in December 2016. Sears began working with
Ekaterina Makarova Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles. She ...
in the summer of 2017. in June 2018 he began coaching the Estonian player
Anett Kontaveit Anett Kontaveit (; born 24 December 1995) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 2 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 6 June 2022, making her the highest-ranked Eston ...
but that arrangement came to an end in April 2021. Sears was a regular commentator for
BT Sport BT Sport is a group of broadcasting of sports events, pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, Warner Bros. Dis ...
, who used to cover the WTA in the UK.


Personal life

Sears resides in the south of England. He is married and has two children. His daughter, Kim, married tennis player
Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
in 2015.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sears, Nigel 1957 births Living people English tennis coaches Place of birth missing (living people) British male tennis players