Just spent some time reading an article about tennis coaches on ESPN and I can not agree more with José Higueras, yes he is right “Coaches are highly overrated” and in my opinion professional tennis coaching is berated!
Nevertheless, the challenge for tennis coaches is much deeper than what Greg Garber portrays on his ESPN sports article
with a few quotes from “famous coaches”. It encompasses several layers of responsibility and competence that Mr. Garber never mentioned:
Tennis Coaching is a cottage industry:
Unlike other professional sports especially team sports where there exists an entire organization behind a coaching effort, tennis is a mom and pop cottage industry, run by the player once he gets enough money to decide what he really wants or how he wants it and sometimes puppeteered by the agent in the background.
Because of this direct dependency on the player’s income, many Coaches, if they do not have the respect of their players, end up being insulted or subject to lesser treatment in front of millions of TV spectators worldwide.
This is ignored by many coaches worldwide and unfortunately on one hand it just feeds the bratty behaviour from spoiled uneducated, disrespectful individuals and on the other hand represents coaches as just self-serving, spineless and incapable of standing up for principle and respect.
That is perhaps why Paul Annacone read the newspaper while Pete Sampras played his matches. A serious note on this, I like Paul very much, I think he is excellent and a very nice person, but by reading the newspaper while Pete played, it only discredited the Coaching profession.
There are no penalties for abusive behaviour by the players:
In a large professional organization the above bratty behaviour toward the coaches, would be totally unacceptable, it would be heavily penalized with large fines and the culprits suspended without pay for a few games!
Oh no! You can not do that in tennis! I understand, but you can leave the coaching seat and the stadium to show the player publicly, that you do not support that kind of behaviour! And at the hotel have a private stiff talk with the brat and set the record straight! (Of course you might be out of a job next week, but it is about principle.)
Tennis Coaches are just individuals struggling for survival:
Unfortunately professional tennis coaches do not have a strong organization with proper status and or salary guidelines.
Often agents from large firms stipulate what the “Coach” is going to get and there is very little negotiation.
On the other hand many ex-players or lesser players who become “coaches” without proper education or training are willing to go to tournaments almost for free with a player as hitting partner, some as friends for the lime light, others to “put their foot in the door” or plainly just to carry their bags. The truth is, all they do is discredit a profession and its true professionals.
Take for example, Jose Higueras an “established coach” accepts the outrageous task of Coaching Roger Federer at Roland Garros, starting that preparation 4 or 5 days before the tournament began! I like Higueras and I respect him, but give me a break Jose, you can’t be serious!
Another example is another established tennis coach who received an after shave as a thank you from his famous pupil who won Wimbledon for the first time. Winning Wimbledon with a markatable image can mean well over 25 Million dollars in endorsements! Nothing against women, but it was a girl.
Arrogant attitudes towards Coaches such as that of Roger Federer do not help either. Take this for an example:
Let’s start with the 10 million dollar question, “How in heavens would a player fire his Coach at the end of a season when the player had just had his best results ever and best ranking of the year ever?”
Roger Federer did that to Peter Lundgreen right after the Houston Masters 2003, with “unbelievable” wins over:
David Nalbandian 6/3 6/0; (who he never had beaten on clay!)
Juan Carlos Ferrero 6/3 6/1; (who he had great trouble to handle on clay!)
Andy Roddick 7/6(2) 6/2; (normal but a 6/2 in the second was steep!)
In the final he blitzed Andre Agassi in a best of 5 sets match 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 (when their last best of 3 sets match was, 6/7(3) 6/3 7/6(7) ). This “substantial raise in performance” in the final and through the tournament did not surprise anyone in the tennis establishment. Was it the reason why Peter Lundegreen was fired?
Did anyone ever ask why Peter Lundgreen was sacked after such a stellar end of the year performance and Roger’s best ranking ever of No 3?
What was the message for professional tennis coaches around the world? You do not matter! That simple.
Take the latest incident with Jose Higueras and Roland Garros 2008, “"Well, the thing is we haven't had much time, you know on the practice courts," Federer said, soon adding, "But I think the important thing is to talk a lot, communication. And that's why Estoril and Monaco were quite difficult, you know. Because he came in, I was playing matches every day, and, you know, he's trying to tell you a few things, but he's worried to sort of give advice. But then it might be bad advice, you know, so . . . "
Things got even more vague and more like the cottage industry I mentioned above:
It's about "having a guy, you know, seeing it from a different angle," Federer said. "Somebody you can discuss and talk about, you know, tactics and certain things. You know, if he sees something in my technique, you know, that is something that you can then work on in the practice sessions. That is something we really haven't had a chance to look at.
"You know, if you're down, sure, he can build you up. But I wasn't really down, you know, since we've started working together, so that hasn't come into play yet."
Why hire a Coach if you are not going to trust what he has to say and you are not sure his advice will be the right one?
And the worst was to come, the official preparation for Roland Garros 2008 with Higueras started 4 or 5 days before the start of the actual tournament! In relation to other sports it would be like, Michael Phelps the swimmer hiring a swimming coach 5 days before his first heat at the Beijing Olympics or the Boston Celtics in basketball telling their coach to go home for the first four games and show-up for practice 5 days before the final game in the series.
To imagine anything more ridiculous then this I would have to go back to "Green Acres" (1965)TV series 1965-1971! What puzzles me is that the TV and media pundits say amen to all of this embarrassing charade without a comment or criticism. Oh, I forgot Roger is the No 1, he must know what he is doing!
Are there any possible solutions? Yes!
There is plenty more that erodes the respectability of the Coaching profession, but the real solutions rely on one hand in the established players standing the higher ground instead of looking for cheap solutions and be willing to pay, to “real” professional coaches, the same high dollar that they get for their performances and endorsements. On the other hand professional coaches have to learn to behave as such, by teaching discipline and mutual respect instead of accepting doubtful coaching arrangements, or bratty insultive behaviour from their pupils or yet by reading the newspapers while their pupils are playing!
Sergio Cruz
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