It is a question that must be in the minds of many coaches and federation leaders around the world. At the French open in 1984 I was approached by the head of the Australian junior development program R.R. at the time and was asked if I would like to join the AIS junior development coach team, mycarscent the reason being: “we need to develop the “Spanish” clay court game in our juniors”. My answer was, “I am honoured with your offer but you must keep in mind that I am a strong believer in the all-round game as well as in the teachings of Mr. Harry Hopman”. Needless to say, akunprorusia I never heard from AIS again for years to come.
The Australian Open went on to adopt the slow surfaced rebound Ace tennis courts that totally handicapped their marquee players Patrick Rafter, Mark Phillipoussis and of late a French clay court especially developed for Australia is at Melbourne Park. “Tennis Australia officials like to refer to the particular blends of red dirt as ‘Factor X’.” (Investment in French clay By Margie McDonald December 16, semar128 2005 “The Australian, Australia’s national daily newspaper”). This would be pretty harmless if the likes of Richard Fromberg 6’5” (195 cm) a baseliner, Lleyton Hewitt 5’11” (180 cm) defensive baseliner (counter puncher) would not show as by-products of such a grand scheme.
In the USA an identical phenomena happened with the death of Mr. Harry Hopman in 1985, verduurzamendeurne players went looking elsewhere for new training havens. A large sports management group very intelligently bought a tennis academy in 1987, then started and to this day continues to furiously herd present clients and every future tennis star to train there, spintenniscoach as well as promoting itself with magazine ads, magazine and TV interviews and various other connections its power within the sport of tennis allows them. With this huge marketing machine and new clients being scouted, signed up and pumped in from around the world, antminet the dawn of baseline robotic tennis and two handed backhands supported by excellent forehands was at hand.
Fortunately, players like John McEnroe, Pat Cash, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, ufa88myanmar Michael Stich, Pat Rafter, Pete Sampras and now Roger Federer escaped the onslaught and were privileged to have Coaches/Teachers that offered them the option to fully develop their games with one handed backhands, crosstrainer-kaufen the serve and volley and the all-round game.
Australia and the USA, as dominant tennis nations for many years, were the standard that others followed to develop their players. Now let us make a small tally of the damage poor development principals can do world wide; false “gurus”, teachers conferences, tennis clinics, papers and books, DVD’s and VHS, askanadviser interviews, “expert” magazine articles, tennis camps and sloppy training.
How did poor development affect talented players? Let us take Lleyton Hewitt for an example:
What do you think Lleyton Hewitt would be doing to the elite now, if at a young age, he had developed a good one handed backhand, a decent serve and a serve and volley combination? My forecast would be, that Hewitt with the amazing speed he moves on the tennis court and his aggressive nature, Roger Federer would not be humbling him now with short scores like; Wimbledon 2005, 6-3 6-4 7-6(4) or US Open 05 6-3 7-6(0) 4-6 6-3, or with other even more humiliating defeats! sgmytrips
Another example, Andre Agassi what would he have done, if at an early age, he had developed a good one handed backhand, a decent serve and a serve and volley combination? Agassi with his quick thinking, great anticipation (exceptional eyes), creativity and fantastic foot speed, Andre would have amassed more Grand Slams then anyone that ever played the game! (After all these years of watching him play, in spite of all his talent, I still cringe when he volleys or hits a slice backhand!).
Andy Roddick is another flagrant case, of playing robotic tennis sometimes up to 12 feet behind the baseline or whatever the back of the court allows, out-slugging opponents with little imagination or creativity, at 6’2” (187 cm) you can imagine the threat this young man would be at the net to his opponents instead! What a waste of energy and raw talent! It is plausible that you all remember his last defeat at Wimbledon, if Andy had a solid backhand volley to speak of and knew that most attacks are down the line instead of cross court, Roger Federer today would now be reflecting about the Wimbledon he lost and not the one he won!
