Serena Williams' coach Patrick Mouratoglou has called for on-court coaching to be allowed throughout tennis.
The warning Williams received during the US Open final after Mouratoglou was spotted trying to give advice to his player during her controversial loss to Naomi Osaka was the catalyst for the American's meltdown and exposed the lack of consistency towards the issue.
Tennis' governing bodies and the grand slams are discussing the matter with the aim of coming to a consensus, and Mouratoglou hopes they will follow the lead of the WTA by permitting coaching input during matches.
In a statement on Twitter, the Frenchman said: "Reforming would send a clear message that tennis will be more and more competitive on the sports market in the coming years or decades; keeping tennis within its existing scope would prevent it from gaining new fans in the long term."
Mouratoglou believes on-court coaching would not only help grow tennis' fanbase but also bring it into line with other sports.
It would also address the issue of inconsistent officiating regarding the issue, with umpires only occasionally penalising an offence that everyone within the sport acknowledges is routinely committed.
That was at the centre of Mouratoglou's protestations immediately after the US Open final when, much to Williams' bafflement, he admitted he was coaching but argued Osaka's coach Sascha Baijin was too.
"It is a very basic truth that the vast majority of tennis coaches are actually coaching on court, despite the rules," said Mouratoglou.
The US Open and Australian Open have already experimented with allowing coaching during qualifying and junior matches and are likely to be on the WTA's side while the ATP, French Open and Wimbledon are more reluctant.
Wimbledon will be the biggest obstacle, with tournament officials continually stressing their fundamental opposition, but chairman Philip Brook said recently they may not stand in the way if there was unanimous support from the rest of the sport.
