Pete Kiehart for The New York Times
PARIS — When Petra Martic reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the French Open on Sunday, she felt not only relief, but validation of what she called “a pretty bold move”: hiring a former WTA player to be her coach.
“When I started working with her, everybody was doubting my decision,” Martic said of her coach, Sandra Zaniewska, whom she hired last year. “People underestimated it, people even laughed at it, said I did a crazy thing — what am I doing? I’m not serious about my career because she’s so young and inexperienced.