MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS, Andrey Kartashov/. Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova’s change of head coaches will not help to ‘change drastically her play,’ Shamil Tarpishchev, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF), told TASS on Wednesday.
Last week, Sharapova parted ways with her Swedish coach Thomas Hogstedt, who had trained her between 2011 and 2013 and then resumed their training partnership in 2018. The 55-year-old Swedish coach will be now personally training Rebecca Peterson, who is 24 years old and comes from Sweden as well.
"It is more of a tactical and psychological move for Sharapova to announce the change of coaches given her age," Tarpishchev said in an interview with TASS. "They both grew accustomed to each other, worked a lot and this is a change of the psychological background."
"There will be no drastic changes in the play of Sharapova," Tarpishchev continued. "We know how she moves, we learnt her style and she is all-settled in her play technique."
World’s former No. 1 Sharapova is currently ranked in 81st spot of the weekly rating list of the Women Tennis Association (WTA). She is the winner of 36 WTA tournaments throughout her career.
Sharapova, who turned 32 this April, is Russia’s most decorated tennis player having won a total of five Grand Slam tournaments, namely the Australian Open in 2008, the French Open in 2012 and 2014, Wimbledon in 2004 and the US Open in 2006.
She also clinched the silver in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and was the 2008 Federations Cup champion.
In 2018, Sharapova participated in 11 tennis tournaments, including four Grand Slam competitions. Her best results last season were the semifinals of the tournaments in China’s Shenzhen and Italy’s capital city, Rome.