MONTREAL - The WTA Tour is one of the worlds pre-eminent womens sports franchises.

Yet it remains, on many levels, a mans world.

One notable area is on the coaching side; youd be hard-pressed to name half-a-dozen pro players who have female coaches.

With so many former players around the game, its surprising more women havent gone that route. Certainly their male counterparts are legion on both the WTA and ATP Tours.

Why?

But for many reasons, its just more difficult.

Its tougher for women to work their way up the coaching ranks, and the pool is tiny to begin with.

Given the travel required to coach a professional player, coaches who put off starting a family during their playing careers would have to put it off even longer. And many are worn down by the grind when they hang up their racquets.

And, even in the 21st century, many female players still prefer to be coached by men. In many cases, it is their fathers. If that seems a little out of the Stone Age, being coached by a woman still remains out-of-the-box thinking and athletes, in general, tend to stick with the status quo.

I enjoy it, passing along the experience I acquired as a player, and what Ive learned in my new job as a coach, because it really is a whole new trade that Ive learned. Its not because you were a good player that youll make a good coach, said former world No. 3 Nathalie Tauziat of France, who works with rising Canadian Genie Bouchard. I think there are things you can say to a woman you cant say to a man. (Bouchard) and I dont share everything, but Im sure there are things she wouldnt say to a male coach.

Read the rest here:
Coaching is a man’s job