Quinn on course under Garber guidance

“I feel like I’m travelling with a 55-year-old man. He’ll laugh at that too as it’s true,” Garber told rolandgarros.com. “We talk like a 55-year-old man, we talk investments, markets, it’s like reading the Wall Street Journal with him at dinner.

“We’ll be at any city in the world and there’s eight million things we could go see and he’s finding the coolest thrift and antique stores.

“He moved to Florida and asked me if I knew anywhere to get an antique dresser for his bedroom, not the bars. He’s funny and quirky in those ways. At the beginning I didn’t know how I could ever relate to this kid.

“Now we’re two peas in a pod, he knows I like vintage watches, so he’ll find a store for him and a store down the street for me. It’s dangerous here in Paris, I can’t spend too much money, my wife will kill me!”

There is nothing antique or let’s say vintage about Quinn’s evolving game – it’s all-court and it packs a punch.

“We say right now, Ethan’s on ‘EQ 2.0.’

“1.0 was building the foundation, becoming very good at certain things, 2.0 is an aggressive style of tennis, moving the balls to try and get to net.

“He knows that and it’s defined; his goal is to get closer to that each day. We’ve tried to get away from any result-based goals. Any goals are based on attitude, effort and getting closer to that EQ 2.0.”

Roll back to February 2022 and the day after his wedding, a phone call from Tommy Paul’s renowned coach Brad Stine changed Garber’s life.

They’d met before at USTA seminars, before Garber was forced to take 2018-21 off the road due to some “terrifying” autoimmune health issues. Stine wanted to know the lay of the land and hired Garber.

Stine taught Quinn tennis fundamentals at his academy in Fresno, California, before entrusting Garber with this supreme talent post-2023 US Open. Quinn had just turned professional, having won the 2023 NCAA Singles Championships as a University of Georgia all-star athlete. However, adapting to the tour took time, the wins simply weren’t coming.

“Last year was hard, really hard, for a lot of reasons. I was telling Brad, myself, Ethan and others that I promise he’s getting better. We just hadn’t seen it yet - I started to question myself,” admitted Garber.

“I was easy to let go of last year with the results we were having. Middle of the summer, Brad and I asked if we are the ones to get him through where you want to go. It was an admission from us that he needs to hold us accountable too. It was make or break.

“He called us three days later and told us ‘Nope, it’s not a you guys thing, we’re doing all the right things.’ We hired a mental coach shortly after and that’s helped a lot. They’re still in the process and we won’t be leaving that, ever.”

Stine and Garber’s players frequently mix in training squads, with world No.12 Paul becoming almost a mentor for his younger compatriot.

“It’s unbelievable for Ethan, Tommy is the perfect guy to have in your corner. He’s not a robot, has a normal life outside of tennis, shows him how to find that balance,” added Garber.

“Tommy actually asked him a question in practice one day [before US Open 2024] which I think sparked something in all of us.

“He asked him, ‘What match did you play your best and won?’ Ethan right away had two or three answers. Tommy then asked, ‘What match did you play your worst and still win?’ Ethan didn’t have an answer.

“The average person watching on TV doesn’t realise a lot of the top guys can be having a bad day, because those guys compete unconditionally.”

Garber believes Quinn has undergone a “full-scale transformation” in the past two years, with fitness coach Franco Herrero enhancing his flexibility and movement, as the team altered his whole shot repertoire.

Quinn has been the perfect student.

“It’s his biggest strength being such a quick learner,” stated Garber. “He’s sometimes too coachable. If I tell him to do something he will do exactly that.”

The Garber-Quinn approach to clay exemplifies the vision of the whole project. The days of Americans staying home to compete on green shade clay, before a stint in Paris are long gone.

“Why would you throw away this part of the season? We invested time in that, he wasn’t in the French [Roland-Garros] and I still brought him over here last year,” continued Garber. “We played five weeks on red clay and he lost every match, I told him I thought he would.

“But I also told him he would leave the trip a much better player than when he arrived, it will teach him the lessons of patience, how to suffer – you have to on this surface – those five weeks helped him no end.”

It’s certainly clicked for Quinn in recent months. Having landed in Barcelona at 1.30am, the career-high world No.106 reeled in Corentin Moutet from a set down, then repeated the trick versus Borna Coric to qualify.

Eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz defied the California native 6-2, 7-6(6) in a compelling first-round clash during which Quinn held set point before the tiebreak slipped away.

Over to Madrid and the 21-year-old qualified for the main draw and was only denied in round two by Jakub Mensik 7-6(4), 6-1.

“He got pretty badly beat in the first, down a break in the second and his willingness to compete was awesome,” said Garber with pride, reflecting on the Alcaraz tussle.

“That match showed the incremental growth. There hasn’t been an astronomical week, it’s just been inch by inch, which fits how we coach him.

“There may be a week where he breaks through, that would be awesome, but for now I like the path that we’re on.”

Get your tickets now!

The Roland-Garros 2025 Opening Week is shaping up nicely! Tickets are still available to come and support the future stars and watch training sessions with the biggest names on the WTA and ATP tours.

Click HERE to buy your tickets on the official Roland-Garros 2025 ticketing website