Top 5 female coaches in tennis

Male coaches have predominantly worked with players on both the ATP and WTA Tours. It’s quite surprising that female coaches have not been a part of top players’ teams in the past, barring a few exceptions.

However, this trend has witnessed a slight shift in recent years, with a couple of leading women achieving notable success in a coaching capacity. Unfortunately, even those successful stints haven’t yet brought about a watershed moment in tennis, and we see very few women being shown the same level of faith and trust as their male counterparts in coaching and mentoring roles.

Keeping that in mind, the Women’s Tennis Association has been consistently promoting women-only coaching roles through the Coach Inclusion Program, which debuted in 2022. Here, we present our pick of the five greatest female coaches we have seen in the history of tennis.

5. Patricia Tarabini

Former Argentine top-30 WTA player Patricia Tarabini is also a top coach who has been working with Russian player Anna Kalinskaya since 2019. She has also been a mixed doubles Grand Slam champion.

Tarabini has considerably helped improve Kalinskaya’s performances over the last half-decade or so. From being ranked 150th in the world, Kalinskaya has gone on to break into the top 20 under Tarabini’s guidance. The Argentine has also helped her to four WTA doubles titles, as well as quarter-final appearances at the 2023 Australian Open and the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.

Kalinskaya has also talked about her coach in glowing terms, even going as far as to state that Tarabini has helped her improve not just as a player, but also as a person. 

4. Rennae Stubbs

Former doubles No. 1 player Rennae Stubbs has also had a top coaching career. The American has coached several top WTA players over the years, including the illustrious and legendary Serena Williams, whom she coached in her last-ever tournament, the 2022 US Open, where Williams lost in the third round. 

Stubbs also coached Karolína Plíšková from 2018 to 2019 alongside Conchita Martínez, guiding her to four WTA titles and the world No. 2 ranking. Stubbs has also coached Australian Samantha Stosur and helped her win a Grand Slam doubles title at the 2021 US Open, while she also coached Canadian Eugenie Bouchard throughout 2020 and helped her take a massive jump in her WTA rankings, helping her go from 330th to 120th. 

The 55-year-old is known for her strategic expertise and guidance, helping players improve rankings and even guiding the top ones to Grand Slam success. Currently, she is working as a tennis commentator and analyst.

3. Anabel Medina Garrigues

Former Spanish player Anabel Medina Garrigues is another coach who has been highly successful. During her playing days, she was a top-20 player who won 11 singles and 28 doubles titles on the WTA Tour.

Garrigues joined Latvian player Jelena Ostapenko’s coaching team ahead of the 2017 season. It proved to be a brilliant appointment, as the mercurial Ostapenko had a breakout campaign that saw her winning the French Open singles title, the Korea Open, and breaking into the top 10 rankings.

The partnership ended at the conclusion of the 2017 season, as Garrigues was appointed captain of Spain’s Fed Cup team. She then led the Spanish Fed Cup team to the No. 1 ranking as well. Currently, she is serving as the tournament director for the Valencia Open.

2. Amélie Mauresmo

Former multiple-time Grand Slam winner Amélie Mauresmo became one of the trailblazers for female coaches as she proved to the world that women were just as tactically and technically adept at coaching top tennis players as men.

In 2013, Mauresmo coached compatriot Marion Bartoli to her only Grand Slam title (Wimbledon) without dropping a set. She also broke gender barriers when she became the coach of British player Andy Murray. Under her guidance, Murray won his first two clay-court titles (Munich and Madrid in 2015), reached two Australian Open finals, and returned to second spot in the world rankings. Mauresmo also coached another compatriot, Lucas Pouille, from 2018 to 2020 and helped him reach his first Slam semi-final at the 2019 Australian Open.

In 2021, Mauresmo became the first female tournament director at the French Open. She succeeded Guy Forget and now oversees all aspects of the tournament, which include match scheduling, maintenance, and development.

1. Conchita Martínez

Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez is currently the top female coach in the game.

Martínez started her coaching career with compatriot Garbiñe Muguruza in 2017. She coached the 32-year-old to her first Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships in 2017 as a consultant before helping her win the WTA Finals in 2021 as a full-time coach. Muguruza won three WTA titles and reached two other finals, finishing the year ranked third in the world. For Muguruza’s consistent performances, Martínez was awarded the WTA Coach of the Year award in 2021.

In between, she also coached Karolína Plíšková from 2018 to 2019 alongside Rennae Stubbs, guiding her to four WTA titles and a Wimbledon semi-finals appearance. She has also coached several other players on the WTA Tour, such as Marie Bouzkova, Anastasia Rodonova, Janette Husarova, and Shahar Peer.

Martínez has been coaching young talent Mirra Andreeva since 2024. Under her guidance, Andreeva has reached her career-high ranking of world No. 5. She has helped the Russian win two WTA 1000 titles in 2025, reach the French Open semi-final in 2024, and the Wimbledon quarter-final in 2025. Under her guidance, Andreeva has really flourished and matured, having demonstrated improved mental fortitude, consistency, and strength, and having also added some subtle variations to her game.

Conchita Martínez is certainly the best women’s tennis coach on the tour right now, and it’s quite scary when one thinks about how much more she can improve Andreeva’s game going ahead.