Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul have revived American tennis to a huge extent in the 2024 season. Although they did not receive a single nomination for the ATP Awards this year, their coaches did. Interestingly, both players’ main coaches are also from the United States, making it a special achievement.
The nominees for the ‘Coach of the Year’ award are voted by coaches of other opponents. Fritz’s coach Michael Russell made the cut and so did Paul’s coach Brad Stine. Russell and Stine will compete alongside the likes of Xavier Malisse (former Belgian player who is now Alexei Popyrin’s coach), Emmanuel Planque (coach of French rising star Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard) and James Trotman (coach of US Open 2024 semifinalist Jack Draper).
Beginning with Russell, he was a former player on the ATP Tour. His first experience in coaching was with the USTA Development Program. One of his students in that program in the 2010s decade happened to be Fritz. Now it’s been three years since Russell has been coaching him on the ATP Tour.
While a lot of credit is given to Paul Annacone for Fritz’s increased competitiveness, it is Russell who is more involved in his game. In the 2024 season, Fritz made it at least to the quarterfinals in every Grand Slam he played. His improved performances on clay saw him make it to the semifinals of the Madrid Masters, quarterfinals of the Rome Masters and the doubles semifinals with Paul at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Russell is known as ‘Iron Mike’ in tennis circles and is often teased for his poker face expressions on the sidelines. In an interview with Tennis Channel earlier this year, he gave an insight into his coaching style. He also credited Fritz for making him look level-headed because he doesn’t need motivation from an external source to keep him going when the chips are down.
“Some players need extra motivation from an external source. Taylor’s motivation is always high. I just want to show quiet positivity. You have to be a sort of benevolent dictator as a coach. You need the player to buy in,” Russell said.
Russell is expected to stay with Fritz, even as the American star has achieved his main goal for 2024, i.e. to reach the top 5. Now, a Grand Slam win and the World No.1 ranking awaits.
On the other hand, Tommy Paul is still far behind at No.12 in the rankings and is very much in contention to get into the top 10 at the start of the 2025 season itself. Getting closer to Fritz in the race to become the American No.1 might not be that easy, but this is what Paul is working on, alongside Brad Stine.
Stine aims to achieve more success with Paul after legendary stint with Jim Courier
Stine is a coaching veteran at the top level, having done it for the last three decades. Initially from California, he is now actively involved with the USTA in Boca Raton, Florida.
Stine was responsible for American great Jim Courier winning four Grand Slams. On one of the episodes of Netflix’s docuseries Break Point, Courier spoke about Stine and his impact on him as well as Paul.
“Stine was my coach and he took me from 25 in the rankings to 2 in the rankings in 52 weeks. He is a no-nonsense guy. Paul is an immense talent. He just didn’t have direction. He needed some help and he found the right guy.”
Stine has been responsible for Paul’s transformation from a party guy to a disciplined player who is not satisfied with what he achieves. The champion coach also encouraged Paul to get a dedicated, full-time fitness trainer with him on Tour once he was able to afford it.
Stine has been coaching Paul since 2020 and the hard work seems to be paying off now. If Russell is the calmness Fritz seeks, Stine is the enthusiastic cheerleader of sorts and that works well for Paul.
In fact, Stine can be so involved and emotional that he slapped Paul twice during the Australian Open 2023 to straighten him up.
Talking about that incident, Stine was quoted as saying in an interview with The Age –
“I literally slapped him in the face, and I told him, ‘Hey, I need Tommy Paul. Like, where’s Tommy Paul? The guy who’s here right now is not Tommy Paul!’ I said, ‘Be Tommy Paul right here,’ and he knows that means relax; be loosey-goosey, be that guy.”
Coaching, especially in tennis, is an art. Russell and Stine have crafted their own paths by worked their pupils out well. And the results have shown.
Whichever coach wins between the two, both of them would surely be happy for each other. Eventually, it would be a monumental win for American tennis.
