Two legendary tennis coaches tell what it takes to play a winning game
By Stephen Wallenfels
Every sport has its dream moments. For golfers, it's sinking a 35' downhill putt to win the Masters. Basketball players dream of hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer to clinch the NBA Championships. Baseball has the walk-off homerun in game seven, bottom of the ninth, to claim the World Series.
. . . And, for tennis fans, it's ripping an ace in the fifth set to win the finals of the US Open, the annual sports event that attracts more spectators than any other in the world.
Well over 600,000 are expected to show up at the National Tennis Center, in Flushing Meadows, New York, for the 2005 US Open, which gets under way this month, on August 29, and runs until September 11.
The US Open may be the pinnacle, the peak, that millions fantasize about reaching, and, though few will attain it, many embark on the path-eager, perhaps, just to learn to play tennis well; or to compete successfully at the club level; or to be the best senior player in town. Their goals may be different, but the steps they will have to take, the skills they will have to acquire, the obstacles they will have to overcome-are the same.
How can the club owner, the club pro, help each tennis devotee realize their own individual dream-which, stated most succinctly, is simply to win?
Well, the US Open can serve as a useful reminder, helpful instructor, and inspiring example of what it takes to excel at this sport. To glean a few valuable insights, CBI turned to two tennis coaches who are intimately familiar with the event and some of the game's biggest names. Brad Gilbert has worked with, among others, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, and is the author of Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis, Lessons from a Master. Greg Patton has assisted Roddick, Jim Courier, James Blake, Michael Chang, and Pete Sampras, and is the head coach for the World Team Tennis team.
A Winning Game
Gilbert has a respect bordering on reverence for the US Open. As a junior player, he fantasized about winning the tournament, but, as a professional, he fell just short of that goal, with fourth round losses in 1986, '92 and '93. He also has a profound appreciation for what it takes to get there. "If you're going to win at the Open, you have to have the whole package-talent, skills, a tremendous work ethic, and the ability to focus on beating the player on the other side of the net," he concludes. "If you have all of that, good things will happen."
The long list of requisites-interest, knowledge, skills, physical prowess, mental strength, a competitive soul-apply equally, if to a lesser degree, to every tennis enthusiast.
And, over the years, the standards of preparation and performance have risen, inexorably, at every level of play. Gilbert notes, for instance, that there have been significant changes with respect to training since he was searing the courts in the '80s. "We never lifted weights," he confesses. "The focus was on the legs, so there was lots of running, but our upper bodies were as flat as pancakes."
The biggest change over the past 20 years, he observes, is the increased emphasis on movement and speed. "With all of the new science and training techniques, players-Roger Feder, for example-are faster and stronger than ever.
Training for speed and court coverage is very important."
"Physical conditioning, with respect to elite tennis, has become rather uniform," reports Patton. "It was somewhat diverse in the '80s and early '90s, with individual coaches pretty much doing what they thought was most effective.
Now, with all the research and education that's become available-most notably, the USTA (United States Tennis Association) high-performance training program-the conditioning is more consistent, both in theory and application."
Patton offers, as a mini-case-study, the conditioning program that he runs at Boise State University, in Boise, Idaho, where he's the head coach for men's tennis. "Tennis is like a marathon race made up of a series of fast sprints," he suggests. "The core of our program is movement-to get the athlete to the ball; to use the kinetic link of legs, hips, and torso effectively; and to strike the ball with balance, power, and finesse."
The regimens that Patton devises rely on cardiovascular and strength training, and also deal with flexibility, endurance, footwork and speed dynamics, and injury prevention. "Our goal is to prepare the body to handle the constant beating it takes while running these daily 'marathons,' and, then, to be able to recover quickly from all the physical stress."
Focus and mental preparation are just as critical, notes Gilbert, who's renowned for the world-class "mind game" that he both plays and preaches. A player not only has to target, zero in on, the individual on the other side of the net, but, at the same time, ignore everything else-which can include fans, the weather, physical pain, etc. "Whether there are 25 people milling around at the club, or 25,000 in the stands at Flushing Meadows," he says, "you have to be able to shut out all the distractions and play your game."
He recalls the difficulty he had doing so when he was working the backcourts during his first US Open in '82. "There was a band nearby that was playing some really loud music," he recounts, "and all of the smoke coming from the barbecue pit was making me dizzy. It was the biggest match of my life, and all of this stuff was going on. It was virtually impossible to concentrate!"
A Game Winner
The importance of concentration, training, and commitment to a goal are clearly demonstrated by Gilbert's eight-year coaching experience with Agassi. After a first-round loss in the '93 US Open, Agassi underwent surgery to remove scar tissue from his right wrist, and, the following year, turned to Gilbert for advice. "We went out to dinner one night," Gilbert remembers. "Andre started asking me questions about the general direction of tennis, and where I thought his game was headed. After a few hours, I told him, 'I think I can help you'.
"I didn't realize, then, that Andre was looking for a new coach and that I was on his short list. We started working together the next morning."
That marked the beginning of the tennis equivalent of a roller-coaster ride. Agassi went on to win the US Open that year, and his ranking soared to No. 1. In '97, he went into a slump, and his ranking plummeted to No. 141, a career low. "That's when Andre asked me if the game had passed him by, or if he could still have an impact as a player," explains Gilbert. "I told him that he still had the game. He just had to get back to working hard, and the success would follow.
"Andre said, 'That's all I need to know.'
"He rededicated himself to the sport and started training harder than he ever had."
In '99, Agassi won his first French Open title and his second US title, and reclaimed his No. 1 world standing. "He's still in the thick of things today," Gilbert notes admiringly.
The lessons he's learned-and taught-on the courts have served Agassi well. He's not only preparing for the '05 US Open, but also the star of his own 24 Hour Fitness Club brand.
Stephen Wallenfels is a contributing editor for CBI and can be reached at stevewall@charter.net.
