Interactive Forum December 2024: Maria Sharapova Forehand Age 11

[neilchok]

Maria Sharapova in her own book, stated she only had the money to get lessons from Robert and get the flights and hotels because she had agents and people who were already sponsoring her. The agents were the ones who helped get Robert's number. In her book, she just walked apparently into IMG and somehow convinced one of Nick's coaches to look at her. Once her coach saw how insane she was, he called Nick and told her we have something special. Then she got full sponsored by IMG, and then agents signed deals with her and Yuri. She was really good before she event met Robert. In another interview with Robert, he said Maria had no need to socialize with anybody, she was completely focused on tennis and was not worried about making friends. He says that is an extremely rare quality, where most people need some social interaction.

I believe Tracy Austin was on the cover of some magazines even before Robert ever worked with her. Vic Braden used to be her coach.

Below is an interview with Robert, where he says teen phenoms cannot be developed, it is something inherit in the players themselves. He says the great players have a natural timing that can't be taught, they are extremely coachable, and they are very competitive. He said Pete, Maria, Tracy were all teen phenoms. He also mentioned that great players, always would arrive to the lesson early. And he never had one player who was really good, that would arrive late to the practices.
Robert Lansdorp Speaks

However to counter that point, in another interview on coachlife.com, he said one year he had 19 players playing at the US Open at the same time! And apparently the Billy Jean national tournament, he had all four of his players playing in the semis against each other for both singles and doubles, and that same year in the 12s he had Tracy Austin winning it.

[stotty]

Maria Sharapova in her own book, stated she only had the money to get lessons from Robert and get the flights and hotels because she had agents and people who were already sponsoring her. The agents were the ones who helped get Robert's number. In her book, she just walked apparently into IMG and somehow convinced one of Nick's coaches to look at her. Once her coach saw how insane she was, he called Nick and told her we have something special. Then she got full sponsored by IMG, and then agents signed deals with her and Yuri. She was really good before she event met Robert. In another interview with Robert, he said Maria had no need to socialize with anybody, she was completely focused on tennis and was not worried about making friends. He says that is an extremely rare quality, where most people need some social interaction.

I believe Tracy Austin was on the cover of some magazines even before Robert ever worked with her. Vic Braden used to be her coach.

Below is an interview with Robert, where he says teen phenoms cannot be developed, it is something inherit in the players themselves. He says the great players have a natural timing that can't be taught, they are extremely coachable, and they are very competitive. He said Pete, Maria, Tracy were all teen phenoms. He also mentioned that great players, always would arrive to the lesson early. And he never had one player who was really good, that would arrive late to the practices.
Robert Lansdorp Speaks

However to counter that point, in another interview on coachlife.com, he said one year he had 19 players playing at the US Open at the same time! And apparently the Billy Jean national tournament, he had all four of his players playing in the semis against each other for both singles and doubles, and that same year in the 12s he had Tracy Austin winning it.

Thanks for this post...very informative. I am just wondering how he managed to coach 19 performance players at the same time? I was led to believe he was a one-man-band and not an academy? When you consider how many hours performance players soak up, and even if each player only had two lessons a week with Rob, that would be 38 hours gone. In well-run academies this can be done because the players are spread out across multiple coaches and are coached and trained up to 20 hours a week.

A coach can position themselves to work with talented young players, and if one becomes a world-class athlete, their success can boost the coach's reputation, attracting more talent. Often, it’s the player who makes the coach, not the other way around. I do believe coaching can play a decisive role in all players. They way to look at it is players like Coco, Iga, and Maria are always going to make it, but they will go even further if their early development coaching is carried out to a high standard by competent technicians.

[neilchok]

Yeah from my understanding at max players got 2 hours per week. I think Sampras in his book for a while only got 30 minutes, and his sister got 30 minutes. Michael Joyce in his interview said he was one of the few players to get 2 lessons per week. So that would roughly only be 19 hours, or say hypothetically each player got 2 lessons that would be 38 hours. Most tennis coaches, coach 6 to 7 days a week. Mind you in the interview with Michael Joyce, he was working with lots of different instructors. Robert even had him going to see Pancho Segura. Pete only used Robert for ground strokes, but Pete had Larry Easily for volleys, and Pete Fischer for serves. And I think other people that Pete's dad managed. Apparently Pete's dad was extremely involved and really helped Pete in his early years.

I think from my understanding he would have the lessons, and then would have his players play each other in practice sets. He apparently said in an interview he was a big believer in the player figuring it out on their own as well. And he expected what he taught in the lessons they were practicing during the week. He expected to see growth between lessons. He said this was one of the reasons he was a big fan of Jeff Tarango. He said even though he did not have the most talent, he said he would see his parents and him practicing on other courts. I know part of the reason why Michael Joyce was the coach of Maria Sharapova, was that Robert had Michael hitting with Maria when she was young.

Also he said he was not a big fan of going to the US Open or watching any of his players play matches, so that would reduce the amount of time going to tournaments. I think his specialities are ground strokes, fitness, and discipline. It seems he essentially would just do side to side and practicing cross courts and down the line.

It seems I guess the level is gotten so much higher now a days, that generally one coach will work 3-4 hours with just one player every day. So essentially zero chance to coach multiple players.

I do feel though talking to junior players or just watching them, really what you are watching is their parents ("with a cutout of the kids faces") placed over their head. A lot of them don't even like tennis. I remember when I was young I would call my friends to play tennis every day. I was excited to hit against the wall, and would look forward for the snow to melt off the courts, so the spring season would start again. Most juniors are reluctant to even get on the court and play. They think it is torture to get tennis lessons, or hit with the ball machine or hit against the wall. When you do see juniors play, they don't even talk to each other on the sidelines, they just each stare at the their own cell phones, and essentially don't even talk to the other player throughout the entire hitting session!!!

I think the good juniors actually like tennis and can practice on their own a bit.

[neilchok]

In my opinion it takes a village to make a great player. So many people generally help a player. If you look at Maria Sharapova, she had her dad, Nick, Robert, the coaches in Russia, other coaches at IMG, all the hitters she probably played with, Michael Joyce, ... But I do believe good coaching does help. If you can learn good technique at an early age or do some really good drills it can really help. I would imagine Nadal getting to hit with Carlos Moya when he was really young had to help a lot. Also now with the advent of technology and websites, and videos you can learn a lot, and are benefitted by so many different people.

But I think the best way to know how important the coach is, is what the student says on their own. If you see how much Carlos loves Juan Carlos, you know that guy must be a pretty good coach. Tracy Austin said Robert was like a dad, and she gave a huge amount of credit to Robert. Same with Lindsay Davenport, to the point she had her kids going to see him. Pete said Robert was a big part of his career, and wrote about him in his book. And same with Maria, in her book. Same with Michael Russel with Taylor Fritz. And Magnus Norman with Stan. Joseph Gilbert with Jenson.

[stotty]

Thanks, neilchok, for detailing the bigger picture. I personally in favour of a team of coaches working together. So long as everyone is on the same hymn sheet, a team is far more powerful than a single coach. Plus, it's probably more interesting for the student.

Single-minded coaches often possess strong personalities and unwavering confidence in their beliefs and methods. Even when their approach is flawed or incorrect, their conviction can be a powerful influence on young athletes. I knew a very successful coach who was just like this and who had a very loyal following. His ability to make others believe in him ultimately helped players develop belief in themselves. Coaches like this can be very prominent figures in any sport.

[neilchok]

Yeah, I agree. I think just looking at the power of the internet, it is a bunch of individuals giving their insights. Tennis is this crazy puzzle to try to solve, and there are so many people trying to help solve that problem together. I find the best players are the people willing to listen/ process people's inputs. I think whoever can help to get your game going is worth listening too.