Mauresmo to coach Pouille; Bartoli takes first coaching position

COURT REPORT—Marion Bartoli steps into a coaching role:

Lucas Pouille has announced that Amelie Mauresmo has become his new coach. Pouille had split with his former coach, Emmanuel Planque, following a season that has dropped him to No. 32 from No. 10 in the rankings. Mauresmo will be his full-time coach on tour starting in 2019.

"I am very happy to start my new collaboration," Pouille said in a statement. "I think her experience as a player and coach will help me achieve my goals. I am confident that we will do great things together."

In taking the position with Pouille, Mauresmo has also decided not to become France's Davis Cup captain as scheduled.

Mauresmo, a two-time Grand Slam champion and the former coach of Andy Murray, was to begin captaining the French Davis cup team next season, but took the position before recent changes to the competition.

"The new [Davis Cup] is not what I signed for," she told French press, agreeing that the next captain should not have been appointed before the vote for reforms. "I made an error, and the federation, also, made an error."

Also this week, Marion Bartoli announced she has decided to coach 19-year-old Frenchwoman Lucie Wargnier.

The teenager was the national U12 champion and the U14 runner-up, but suffered a bad knee injury in 2015. She began playing again in 2017, and is currently ranked No. 761.

"I want to keep moving upwards," Wargnier told *Le Parisien*. "I’m going to stop playing $15,000 tournaments to focus on $25,000 competitions. And if possible, I’ll play the Roland Garros qualifiers next June among the seniors for the first time.”

This is Bartoli’s first coaching role. The 35-year-old Frenchwoman has dabbled in TV commentary and other activities since she retired in 2013, shortly after she won Wimbledon.

In her playing career, Bartoli won eight titles, and also reached the semifinals of the French Open in 2011.