Q.) What made you want to start coaching, and what key things do all successful coaches need to do?
A.) I always knew I wanted to be involved in tennis from a young age at some capacity. I played a little bit but in my late teens I knew I’d be moving into coaching and wanted to work with professional players. With that in mind, in 2007, I took my first coaching job abroad working for Bob Brett in Sanremo, Italy and it took off from there. In England there wasn’t the number of players or exposure for it to be possible to be around a high/pro level of tennis so realised I had to go abroad for an “apprenticeship”, Bob gave me an opportunity with a talented French girl and it seemed to go from there.
I think for young coaches who want to work with developing players or professionals there are no short cuts. You have to go to places and experience proven “tennis cultures” and be in environments that work along with gaining qualifications. Same as being a good player, being a good coach you have to work and be prepared to suffer and sacrifice. Patience, positivity, calmness, hunger and passion are so important.
Q.) You have worked on the WTA tour since 2010, what is your best achievement to date on a personal level?
A.) I’d have to say coaching Eri Hozumi to the doubles final of Roland Garros in 2018. Not many coaches can say they have coached someone to a grand slam final, Eri and her partner (Makoto Ninomiya) played amazing the two weeks and were excellent to work with.
Q.) You coached Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the past, who had a superb run at this years Australian Open. She has never reached a grand slam semi-final, would you say she has underachieved so far in her career?
A.) With Anastasia you have to look at the whole picture. She has been playing WTA events from 16-years-old and has never had time out with an injury or a break, playing full calendars each year and never dropping out of the top 50. To sustain her level all this time is pretty incredible.
To say she has “underachieved” I think is unfair as her career has been very good and still could do something special if she can change/add things to her tennis. Could she have done better or has the tennis to win a slam? Yes for sure. I would never write her off as she can beat anyone as she has proven over the years.
Q.) Who is the most gifted player you have coached, and why?
A.) I’d have to say Anastasia. Her ball striking has been good enough to beat players such as Sharapova, Williams, Muguruza, Svitolina amongst others. Her backhand is probably the best of her generation.
Q.) If you were to start coaching a new player, would you ever coach them into playing a different style of tennis, or is it a case of refining the weaker parts of their current game and making them a better all-round player?
A.) The first thing I like to do is to get to know the person I’m working with as a person and player. It’s important to know what character the player has both on and off court.
Then it’s about finding ways to add to the qualities they already have and also small changes which could bring success whether it be from scheduling, training, diet, equipment etc there are so many directions you can go but also depends how open the player your working with is.
I always believe a player has to stick to their “identity” / “game style” doing the simple things consistently well & controlling the the things they can control.
An error a lot of coaches make that I see (not so much on tour but in the UK when I’m home) is they don’t listen to the players and try to implement change when they start with “their new player” – I don’t know if this is ego trying to show they are the “boss” , lack of experience or the way they have been educated but obviously every case is different. In my opinion it has to be based on examples, communication and a common perceptive on the direction taken to make improvements.
Q.) You are working with the Japanese Tennis Association at the moment, how is that going and is there anyone we should keep an eye out for?
A.) I really enjoy my time in Japan and the players there. It’s a different culture and work ethic to players from other countries. Japan has so many female players between 200-600 WTA (30 in total compared to 15 in Great Britain) but sometimes they struggle to make the final step. I hope I’m helping with that as I’m enjoying the challenge and my time so far.
Q.) If you could coach one player, past or present, who and why?
A.) I was a huge Andre Agassi fan growing up, I remember watching the Wimbledon final in 1992 when he beat Goran Ivanisevic which is one of the main reasons I started to play. I think I would have liked to have been around him to see how he worked to have the career that he did.
Q.) 11 different women have won grand slam titles since 2017. The consistency and level of matches we get on the WTA is reaching crazy heights, every tournament is wide-open, but is there a player you think could dictate for a spell of time?
A.) Right now the level of the women is excellent and continuing to improve. You can see what an influence good coaching, fitness training, scheduling and use of stats/match analysis has had on the sport. Even though the younger generation of players are winning slams I still feel you can’t forget the “older” players.
The pressure that is on players like Kenin, Osaka and Andreescu to dominate now I think is unrealistic as they need time to mature as people and players. They could have another 10 or 12 years playing, that’s a long time to think of one player dominating. I would never write off players such as Halep, Muguruza, Kvitova as they know what it’s like to win slams. It’s definitely an interesting period.
Q.) The new crop of women players coming through are so exciting to watch, Bianca Andreescu, Jelena Ostapenko, Naomi Osaka and Sofia Kenin are already grand slam champions. Which youngster do you enjoy watching and why?
A.) One young player who started 2020 very well was Elena Rybakina. I believe she has the potential with time to do very well. She works hard and looks hungry for success, she can go a long way with those two attributes.
Q.) If there is an aspiring Tennis coach reading this, what advice would you give them?
A.) It depends what direction the coach wants to go. From my own experiences (if someone wants to work in the professional game) I think you need to be prepared to spend time abroad in an environment/academy/system that has a proven tennis culture and record of producing players. This could be Spain, America or even if you look at a country like Czech Republic for female players that has a strong culture.
This would be like an “apprenticeship” because if you do all your qualifications but you are working alone or in an environment that doesn’t have a proven record the chances are you won’t be learning something new. As coaches our job is to support the players to get the best out of them. It’s all about the player.
Big thanks to Adam for the interview, we wish him and all of his players the best for the future. Give him a follow on Twitter.
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