Nigel Sears started coaching Slovakia's
Daniela Hantuchová in 2001. Under his guidance, Hantuchová reached the world's top ten, won the
Indian Wells tournament in California (though that would be her only career title until exactly five years later) and reached three consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals between the
2002 Wimbledon Championships and the
2003 Australian Open (losing twice to
Serena Williams and once to
Venus Williams respectively). At the 2003 French Open, Hantuchová lost a marathon second round match to
Ashley Harkleroad in which she made over 100 unforced errors, which led to Sears publicly criticising her attitude. Having reached a career high ranking of World No. 5 earlier in the year, Hantuchová's results continued to deteriorate and by the end of the year she had dropped to No. 17, leading to a decision to temporarily split with Sears. Sears and Hantuchová reunited in 2004, but on-court results did not improve, as Hantuchová further slipped down to World No. 54 before a late season resurgence saw her finish the season ranked World No. 31 and with an even win–loss record (24 wins and 24 losses). The pair split permanently in 2006, after which Sears was appointed the captain of the
Great Britain Fed Cup team. In June 2011, Sears was appointed the head coach of former WTA World No. 1
Ana Ivanovic, with a view of reviving her ailing career. Since his appointment, Ivanovic's performances at
Grand Slam tournaments improved, and at the
2012 US Open she was finally able to reach her first quarter-final at that level since winning the
2008 French Open. Sears and Ivanovic parted ways following
Wimbledon 2013, in which Ivanovic was defeated in the second round by
Eugenie Bouchard. In July 2015 Sears was reappointed by Ivanovic. During the
2016 Australian Open Sears collapsed in the players box with an allergic reaction whilst watching an Ivanovic match. He was taken to hospital, but released the following morning. He subsequently laid the blame on an allergic reaction to sushi. The partnership ended for a second time with Ivanovic's retirement from tennis in December 2016. 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. Sears coached Emma Raducanu in 2021 to the Wimbledon 4th round. In May 2023 Wang Xiyu hired Nigel Sears as her coach. https://www.wtatennis.com/news/3340269/after-hiring-nigel-sears-wang-xiyu-eager-to-learn-on-the-job Sears was a regular commentator for
BT Sport, who used to cover the WTA in the UK. ==Personal life==