It is again time to hand out our year-end awards. Today we look at the top coaches of the year, but click here to check out the rest of our list.
Top coaches of the year
1. Boris Becker
Becker's appointment as Novak Djokovic's coach ahead of the 2014 season was not met with universal approach, with some unsure whether the Serb made a wise choice. At the start of 2015, some of those critics were still chirping away. Only now, after Djokovic's astonishing season, have those detractors fallen silent.
What could they possibly say after a year in which Djokovic won 11 titles, including three Grand Slams, and become the first man in history to earn more than $20 million in prize money in a season? Becker won six majors as a player and now has four as a coach. Could 2016 see Becker the coach surpass Becker the player?
2. Patrick Mouratoglou
Clearly there are limits to the Frenchman's influence, as he couldn't prevent Serena Williams from experiencing intolerable levels of stress in New York as she attempted -- and failed -- to become the first woman since 1988 to accomplish the calendar-year Grand Slam.
Mouratoglou said he takes responsibility for Williams' not being better prepared to cope with the tension of playing Italy's Roberta Vinci in a semifinal of the US Open, but it's unlikely any coach could have done more. And as disappointing as that defeat was, let it not be forgotten how Mouratoglou enabled Williams to gather titles at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
3. Severin Luthi
For all the fine work Stefan Edberg has done with Roger Federer, the Swede wasn't the one who helped create and hone the "Sneak Attack by Roger." It was Luthi, toiling in Edberg's shadow, who encouraged Federer to push on through the jet lag and to extend his pre-tournament practice session at the Cincinnati Masters.
That was when Federer started fooling around by half-volleying his service returns and then roaring into net to look for a volley. When the laughter all around the court subsided, Luthi encouraged him to take the shot seriously. This was a new shot, but it was also much more than that; it was a demonstration of Federer's desire to innovate and to challenge the Djok-ocracy.
4. Leon Smith
There has never been a faster rise in Davis Cup, and very few triumphs have been more unexpected than Smith's team winning the title. It was just five years ago that Great Britain was facing the possibility of dropping to the lowest level of the competition, alongside nations such as San Marino and Andorra.
But Great Britain beat Turkey to get back into the World Group, which was Smith's first as captain, and then this year defeated the three other Grand Slam nations -- the United States, France and Australia -- before repelling Belgium in the final. Judy Murray calls Smith "my third son." Others soon could find themselves addressing him as "Sir Leon."
5. Rob Steckley
Sometimes it takes little more than a phone with video capabilities to remind you that tennis is supposed to be fun. In addition to guiding Lucie Safarova to her Grand Slam final -- she was the runner-up to Williams at Roland Garros -- Steckley also produced riotous videos. One of those was a film starring Safarova's doubles partner, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, which teased the All England Club for its strict clothing rules.
Central to Steckley's coaching philosophy is that you "shouldn't forget how to smile." That approach clearly seems to be working with Safarova. She also won two Grand Slam doubles titles with Mattek-Sands and qualified for both the singles and doubles fields for the year-end championships.
6. Amelie Mauresmo
This was the year, thanks to his continued association with the Frenchwoman, that Andy Murray was celebrated as a feminist. As Williams said earlier this year at the French Open: "Andy really is pro-women."
And as Murray himself wrote in the French newspaper L'Equipe: "Have I become a feminist? Well, if being a feminist is about fighting so that a woman is treated like a man, then, yes, I suppose I have. My upbringing means that I'm quite attuned to the whole thing. I came to tennis thanks to my mother. I think it's a crying shame that there aren't more female coaches."
After having her first child, Aaron, in the summer, Mauresmo will return from maternity leave to resume her coaching duties.