Right, but you'd think the results would match the variety & hard work eventually, right?
I would think so
Monfils has been playing better without a coach though in big tournaments
Sometimes the homogenous nature of coaches and their training techniques lead to bland playing styles and similarities across the board. Being the court jester alone is effective because it gets in the opponents head due to random body movements that they see out of their peripherals and unpredictability in shot pattern.
Most tennis players grow up and learn in essentially the same ways and get used to the bullshyt "tennis decorum". They all move the same, basically swing the same (other than one hand vs two hand backhands and serves)..and they generally "act" the same on the court outside of the hot head here and there.
There are no rules against moving weird, random gestures and expressions mid-point, doing random shyt while theyre getting ready to serve..hitting random squash backspin slice shots etc. All of that shyt works because 99% are accustomed to the same bullshyt. If Monfils wasnt himself he wouldnt have pushed Fed like he did. If he had less clownery to his game but trained harder he wouldve lost in straights.
When I coach i tell my players to try and never hit the same shot twice in a row unless its a guaranteed winner. Do random shyt sometimes. Hit a second serve as a first serve to throw off their timing..tank on purpose in warm-ups to make them expect shyt that isnt gonna happen..all that fukkery. And it works like a charm and my main player routinely makes her opponents cry mid-match or after because they are too mentally fragile to account for unforeseen variables. On some level, that translates to every skill level tier in tennis.