Last Updated on February 4, 2023

Girl who is currently showing to the Tennis World that if you are committed, the results will eventually come, through reaching her first Grand Slam semi-final at age of 30, is the Polish tennis player, Magda Linette.

Magda Linette was born on 12th February 1992 in Poznan, Poland. Her father Tomasz is a tennis Coach and her mother Beata is an educator. She has a sister, Dagmara Linette. Magda inherited her love of the game from her father and took her first steps under his supervision since she was five.

From an early age, Magda showed great talent, which combined with her exceptional diligence, led her to where she is today. Later she joined a local tennis club, the AZS Poznan, where under guidance of coach Michal Dembinski, Magda successfully played at junior level.

She started out as a defensive player, but she altered her game style to actively creating opportunities to hit winners on the court. Her strengths are her speed, footwork and anticipation.

In 2009 the Pole turned pro and for several years mostly played on ITF Circuit until 2013 when she made her first appearance in a WTA tournament.

She reached her career-high of World no.33 in 2020. Next year she graduates from Indiana University East with a Bachelor of Science in business administration. Her favorite surface is clay and hard court, her favorite tennis player is Monika Seles.

Who Is Magda Linette’s Coach?

Mark Gellard

From the start of season 2018 Magda’s coach is Englishman, Mark Gellard.

Mark Gellard was born on 22nd January 1985 in England. Prior to coaching, Mark attended the London tennis academy as a player, before traveling to the USA where he played Division 1 NCAA college tennis and spent time competing on the futures and satellite tour.

After his own playing days Mark became the assistant women’s tennis coach at the University of South Alabama, where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration, and worked as a junior high-performance development coach.

Mark’s dedication and enthusiasm for the sport and his players, have separated him from the competition and he is now one of the top professional coaches on tour.

He was hired as hitting partner for Martina Hingis and Nadia Petrova, coached Melinda Czink, Danka Kovinic, Zarina Diyas, Yifan Xu. With Linette had already been acquainted through Alan Ma’s Star Academy in Guangzhou, where she has trained since 2014.

When Magda began a relationship off-court with her previous coach Izudin Zunic, Gellard was appointed as replacement. Under his mentorship Magda won her first WTA title at the first edition of Bronx Open in 2019 and the next year came her second one at Hua Hin Open. That led her to her career-high ranking of World no.33. During last year she won two WTA titles playing in doubles. At this year Australian Open she made great success by reaching her first Grand Slam semi-final.

Ian Hughes

Part of the Magda’s coaching team for few months is another Englishman, Ian Hughes.

Iain Hughes is 49 years old tennis coach from Ewell, England. He did not have significant career as a player, and he is tennis coach since 2009. He enjoys playing golf and watching football. Iain has held former roles as LTA (UK) Men’s Travelling Coach, ITF Development Travelling Coach and a member of the ‘Support Team’ for Andy Murray. He is former coach of Elina Svitolina, Belinda Bencic, Sofya Zhuk, Katerina Siniakova.

He worked with Svitolina while earning singles titles at 2014 Baku, 2015 Marrakech and 2016 Kuala Lumpur, as well as a doubles title at 2014 Istanbul. He led her to WTA singles ranking of No.13, becoming the highest ranked Ukrainian at the time.

From July 2017 – June 2018, he helped Bencic improve her ranking from No.318 to No.61. While coaching Siniakova, she captured the doubles titles at Wimbledon and Sydney, end season 2018 as World No.1 player in doubles.

Former Magda Linette’s Coaches

Dawid Celt

In 2021, for few months since end of May, part of her coaching team was Dawid Celt, former coach and now husband of Agnieszka Radwanska.

Dawid Celt was born on 29th November 1985 in Czestochowa, Poland. In his youth he played both football and tennis, but later at the encouragement of his father who is tennis coach, committed to just tennis. He was successful within Poland, winning multiple national-level titles, but his pro career was ended early, due to serious thigh injury.

In 2011 he joined Radwanska’s coaching team, becoming her permanent hitting partner. Since 2018 he is captain of Poland’s Billie Jean King Cup team.

In the short period of coaching Magda, she made through French Open semi-final, playing in doubles alongside American Bernarda Pera.

Izudin Zunic

Before partners with new coach Gellard, for five years she was coached by former tennis player and her current boyfriend, Izudin Zunic.

Izudin Zunic was born in Split, Croatia. He started playing tennis when he was ten years old, at the time when this sport was very popular in Croatia due to Goran Ivanisevic’s success on the Tour.

Then he played collegiately tennis at Graceland University, where as well he started his coaching career, at first as assistant coach. Later he decided to try to be a high-performance coach, moved to Florida where he worked in some academies and got a chance to work with Ani Mijacika and went into the ITF and WTA circuit.

With Linette was five years as his coach, period in which she was mainly competing on the ITF Circuit and won ten ITF titles. He led her into top 100 players on WTA list. As they became intimate partners, they decided to end their coach-player relationship, although he is always there to help when necessary.

“Izo cared too much about our relationship off court to lose it because of tennis. His courage to step away to be my life partner, and to let Mark lead give me peace now and I can really listen to Mark, take his advice and focus on tennis.” said Magda about her partner.

Jakub Rekos

During her career, for a period of nine years, Magda was mentored by compatriot Jakub Rekos.
Jakub Rekos is 43 years old tennis coach from Poland. He is a graduate of the University of Physical Education in Poznan and Class 1 tennis coach. During his tennis career he was medalist of the Polish championships in singles and doubles.

As coach, mostly he works with young talents, as is the case with Linette. He was coach and captain of the Polish Junior National Team. Now he is member of the PZT Prokom Team training staff and is co-owner of the FairPlayce Recreation and Sports Park in Poland.

Under his guidance, Magda won many national and international titles – in her first professional season after entering the WTA list, she advanced by almost 1.000 positions in the ranking, reaching no.147. During their time together she won nine titles on the ITF circuit.

Also Read:

• Who is Belinda Bencic’s coach?
• Who is Coco Gauff’s Coach?
• Who Is Katerina Siniakova’s Coach?
• Who Is Ekaterina Alexandrova’s Coach?
• Who Is Jelena Ostapenko’s Coach?

Magda Linette’s Achievements With Different Coaches

We have collected in the table the data about the trophies won by Magda Linette under the guidance of various coaches.

The post Who Is Magda Linette Coach In 2023? appeared first on Tennis Time.