Tennis coaches have to be one of the biggest farces in all of sports. It seems to be more prominant in the women’t game. For example, out on the practice courts, you will often see women ‘practicing’ by hitting the ball down the middle to each other. What does that improve, their ability to give their opponent a chance to change direction and take control of the point? Instead they should rally ad to ad or duece to duece court. This is a more realistic game situation.
Another time I took the front seats in a near empty stadium and the guy behind me asked me to move because his player couldn’t see him. His player was a top 10 Russian who shall remain nameless. He spent the whole match coaching her. She looked up to him before every point. His “coaching” amounted to berating her for every error.
Here is a good one, another coach had his player facing the back fence then tossed a ball and had her turn around and hit it back. Did he expect her to spend most of her match with her back to the court? How could this have possibly helped her?
I have heard coaches tell players to hit their slice backhands in a U shape. This keeps the ball up and after the bounce. Don’t they know the fundamentals of the stroke? Why don’t they have them work on a service toss? Why don’t they practice target hitting on their serves?
Have you ever wondered what their qualifications are? Look at the William’s father? He’s a great athlete but never even played college tennis. Does that qualify him to coach possibly two best players in the world?
So who do I like as a coach? Darren Cahill, Brad Gilbert, Larry Stephanky, Paul Annacone. A coach needs to be able to click with the player and develop a plan to improve their strokes, their footwork, and work out a game plan; not do stupid drills because they don’t know what they are doing.
Idiot Coaches
Tennis coaches have to be one of the biggest farces in all of sports. It seems to be more prominant in the women’t game. For example, out on the practice courts, you will often see women ‘practicing’ by hitting the ball down the middle to each other. What does that improve, their ability to give their opponent a chance to change direction and take control of the point? Instead they should rally ad to ad or duece to duece court. This is a more realistic game situation.
Another time I took the front seats in a near empty stadium and the guy behind me asked me to move because his player couldn’t see him. His player was a top 10 Russian who shall remain nameless. He spent the whole match coaching her. She looked up to him before every point. His “coaching” amounted to berating her for every error.
Here is a good one, another coach had his player facing the back fence then tossed a ball and had her turn around and hit it back. Did he expect her to spend most of her match with her back to the court? How could this have possibly helped her?
I have heard coaches tell players to hit their slice backhands in a U shape. This keeps the ball up and after the bounce. Don’t they know the fundamentals of the stroke? Why don’t they have them work on a service toss? Why don’t they practice target hitting on their serves?
Have you ever wondered what their qualifications are? Look at the William’s father? He’s a great athlete but never even played college tennis. Does that qualify him to coach possibly two best players in the world?
So who do I like as a coach? Darren Cahill, Brad Gilbert, Larry Stephanky, Paul Annacone. A coach needs to be able to click with the player and develop a plan to improve their strokes, their footwork, and work out a game plan; not do stupid drills because they don’t know what they are doing.
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