Who is Anett Kontaveit’s coach? 

Last Updated on June 2, 2022

Anett Kontaveit is an Estonian 25-year-old professional tennis player with a career-high ranking of World Number 7 in singles which she achieved on 15 November 2021. This achievement also made her the highest-ranked Estonian player of all time. Kontaveit had also won the Estonian Championships in 2009, being the youngest player ever in Estonia to do so. 2021 has been the best season for Kontaveit where she has won 4 WTA titles and has made her top 10 debuts.

Anett Kontaveit’s current coach is Dmitry Tursunov

Anett began her collaboration with Dmitry Tursunov in the Cincinnati Masters 2021 (August), before which she was coached by Ain Suurthal for a brief period of 2 months. Nigel Sears had been her previous long-term coach lasting from June 2018 to April 2021.  

Tursunov began playing tennis in Moscow at the age of five when his father made him play a few hours a day. He came to the United States to train with Vitaly Gorin.

Who is Dmitry Tursunov and how does he become one of the best in the world?

Tursunov’s tennis career began at the age of five when his father made him play a few hours a day. He played his first match in June 1998 in a Futures event in Los Angeles and won, but lost in the following round. In 2000, he broke a leg in January, when he came back, he continued playing. He reaches his first Futures final in Haines City, Florida. 

In 2001, Tursunov won the Futures event in Boca Raton over Jeff Morrison, then the Dallas Challenger defeating Justin Bower. Tursunov qualified for his first ATP event in 2001 Kroger St. He returned after two months away, and then suffered a stress fracture in his leg. 

Tursunov qualified for his first Grand Slam event at the US Open defeating former world number one and then world № 14, in five sets, earning his first top-20 win before losing in the third round. 

Tursunov started the season of 2004 losing in the first rounds of the Chennai Open and Australian Open but won Waikoloa Challenger over Alejandro Falla. Tursunov was forced out of tennis again for seven months with a broken vertebra suffered in a boating accident. 

He came back at the 2005 Indian Wells Masters tournaments he reached the second rounds of the French Open and the first round of the Nottingham Open. He then reached the second rounds of RCA Championships and Los Angeles Open, the first rounds of Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Pilot Pen Tennis. 

Tursunov achieved his highest ever ranking thus far, he began by reaching the quarterfinals of Qatar Open and Medibank International. 

At the French Open, Tursunov lost. He then reached the quarterfinals of the Queen’s Club Championships, then he defeated world №4, Ivan Ljubicic.

Also, he reached his first ATP final at the LA Tennis Open and followed it up with a semifinal performance at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

On 6 January 2007, Tursunov won the Hopman Cup in Perth, Western Australia.

At the Australian Open, he reached the third round, then at the French Open, he fell. 

At Wimbledon, Tursunov won his second career title, then he lost three consecutive matches at the Masters’ event of the Rogers Cup and Cincinnati Masters, and the US Open. 

Tursunov played his first tournament of 2008 at the Qatar Open. Then he defeated Stan Wawrinka, top seed and №8 in the world Richard Gasquet, Sebastien Grosjean, and Fabrice Santoro. 

In Nottingham, Tursunov walked off the court when losing by a set and a break in a first-round doubles match after disagreeing with a line call. Then he celebrated his fifth ATP title win at the Open de Moselle in Metz. 

Dmitry missed most of the first part of 2010 due to a left ankle injury, and he had ankle surgery in February. He played his first tournament of the year at the French Open. 

In Russia as a wild card, he fell in the first round and reached the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Open.

Tursunov began 2011 by losing in the qualifying draw of the Brisbane International and the first round of the Australian Open. 

At the Open 13, he defeated Grigor Dimitrov in three tight sets. Then he faced fourth seed Ivan Dodig in the final and won his seventh ATP title.

In 2015, he won two men’s doubles titles with different partners.

Retirement and switching to coaching 

Tursunov retired from playing on the professional tour on 28 August 2017 because of another injury. In 2011, he mentored a 17-year-old ATP player, Aslan Karatsev, for some time. He subsequently became the coach of WTA Tour tennis players Elena Vesnina and Aryna Sabalenka, respectively. Since 16 August 2021, he has been coaching Anett Kontaveit on a trial basis.

Previous coaches

Nigel Sears

Nigel reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 382 on 4 January 1982. His coaching career began with Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in 2001. Hantuchova achieved brilliant results for the first time in her career thanks to her coach. In June 2011, he was appointed the head coach of former WTA World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, with a view of reviving her ailing career. Sears began working with Ekaterina Makarova in the summer of 2017. In June 2018 he began coaching the Estonian player Anett Kontaveit but that arrangement came to an end in April 2021.

Ain Suurthal

His tennis career began in Dynamo in 1967. He has trained under the guidance of Jaak Parmas, Evald Kree, Harald Rannu, Rein Sander and Jüri Põldoja. He won silver in doubles at the NRL MVs in 1985. He has competed more than 40 times in the Estonian national team and has also captained the Estonian team in the Davis Cup series.

Glenn Schaap

Kontaveit has had a successful working relationship with Schaap under whom she reached four finals, won her first WTA title and also moved into the Top 25 of the world rankings for the first time.

In a message on her website, Kontaveit said, “Working with Glenn certainly helped me achieve a much better physical form. He taught me to use my serve arsenal better. While working with him I learned to know and trust my own game and techniques.”

Marten Tamla 

He is a son of Toomas and Ulle Tamla. Tamla was a top-ranked junior in Estonia… Graduated from Tallinn Mustamae Gymnasium in 2000 and from the University of Memphis (USA) in 2005 with a degree in sports management. His professional win-loss record includes ITF, ATP and Davis Cup professional level results. Has been the head coach and member of the coaching association of the Estonian Tennis Association since 2015. Anett Kontaveit confirms that under his leadership it has achieved very good results.