Macci Speaks on the Development of Venus and Serena

[johnyandell]

Rick's version of events in advance of the release of the movie King Richard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnLc3tHq8no

[arturohernandez]

Rick's version of events in advance of the release of the movie King Richard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnLc3tHq8no

Very interesting video! Macci appears to really have no agenda except to develop excellent players. A few interesting points:

1) Both Venus and Serena needed a lot of work with technique, movement, practice, etc. Macci spent 4 hours a day working with them. Paid all their expenses. That is called commitment. He believed in them and had a big role in their success. Nothing comes for free and great champions require a lot of training.

2) They played a lot of practice matches and had hitting partners. But no junior tournaments. Now my question about having my daughter train tennis for six weeks with no tournaments seem silly. Clearly, playing lots of tournaments has its downside at the junior level. Osaka is another example of someone who seemed to do better in the pros than as a junior.

3) Richard Williams had a very quirky way of viewing the world. Macci appreciated it. They had days they went to Disneyworld out of the blue. He would interview his daughters and prepare them for future media events.

4) They started in Compton but that was for a short time. The 4 years in Florida were a whole other story.

5) Macci realized early what exceptional athletes they were. He says that good athletes get away with a lot of things. His job was to build their games so that they had good fundamentals.

It should be a great movie because the real story is almost impossible to believe.

[johnyandell]

Arturo,
You watched the whole thing! Pretty interesting...

[arturohernandez]

Arturo,
You watched the whole thing! Pretty interesting...

Yes, the whole thing. I find development fascinating (it is actually part of my day job but with language not tennis) and the idea that great superstars often are very fallible is interesting to me. Venus and Serena had pretty poor fundamentals. Macci had to work with them 4 hours a day to get them to where they were.

According to Lundgren, Federer had a bad topspin backhand and poor volleys. He worked on footwork and shored up his volleys pretty well.

I have seen videos of Thiem with a pretty severe hitch in his serve as a junior.

The story of how they go from older child to the adult product is interesting. And Macci seems like a great coach. The kind of underrated person who has a huge effect on the game. LIke Lansdorp they are dedicated to their craft. Other coaches come and get the credit for managing the pro players.

But the developmental story is the one that I find compelling.

I have a video project with my kids strokes from about 10 to late teen in mind. My hope is that the dramatic changes that occur across time could be seen in one short video. Maybe for the main groundstrokes and the serve.

Now I just need time to actually put it together. When I do I hope that tennisplayer.net would be a good place to publish it.

[johnyandell]

Arturo,
Sounds good!

[stotty]

Well I sat through it. It was hard work. That Macci can talk the hind legs off a donkey.

It was interesting that Venus never won a practice set in over three years, and that both girls completely bypassed junior tennis. I loved the idea of giving the girls a blank cheque to lose and to focus on development and the bigger picture. Strange losing didn't become a negative habit though...you would think it would.

The last 20 minutes of the clip on how the coaching relationship broke down was an eye-opener. I think Rick really felt that one. The last twenty minutes was the most interesting.

It was revealing in the Richard's letter to Rick, which the interviewer read out, that Richard said: 'IF' my girls make it really big one day".... During all the alleged conversations that supposedly took place, 'IF' was never in the equation...only WHEN. I found it odd Richard used the word IF in that letter. It stood out a mile for me. So there was some uncertainty in the man after all.

[arturohernandez]

Well I sat through it. It was hard work. That Macci can talk the hind legs off a donkey.

It was interesting that Venus never won a practice set in over three years, and that both girls completely bypassed junior tennis. I loved the idea of giving the girls a blank cheque to lose and to focus on development and the bigger picture. Strange losing didn't become a negative habit though...you would think it would.

The last 20 minutes of the clip on how the coaching relationship broke down was an eye-opener. I think Rick really felt that one. The last twenty minutes was the most interesting.

It was revealing in the Richard's letter to Rick, which the interviewer read out, that Richard said: 'IF' my girls make it really big one day".... During all the alleged conversations that supposedly took place, 'IF' was never in the equation...only WHEN. I found it odd Richard used the word IF in that letter. It stood out a mile for me. So there was some uncertainty in the man after all.

It was a bit sad to hear how the relationship broke down. It is probably an old story in tennis. We rarely hear about the developmental coaches. Most of the time we see the people who take already good players and make them even better.

Macci is very energetic. Speaks very fast.

Surprising that he had them lose so much. They really played a ton of matches against very tough male competition. Maybe it was the fact that the hitting partners were men. At least I am assuming they were. If so, then they would never have lost to a woman. So once they played a woman, the idea of losing left their minds.

Maybe that was part of it. Very different approach to "normal" junior training.

[stotty]

It was a bit sad to hear how the relationship broke down. It is probably an old story in tennis. We rarely hear about the developmental coaches. Most of the time we see the people who take already good players and make them even better.

Macci is very energetic. Speaks very fast.

Surprising that he had them lose so much. They really played a ton of matches against very tough male competition. Maybe it was the fact that the hitting partners were men. At least I am assuming they were. If so, then they would never have lost to a woman. So once they played a woman, the idea of losing left their minds.

Maybe that was part of it. Very different approach to "normal" junior training.

I do think Rick Macci has a heart. Sure, the clip is self serving but then who isn't self-serving in one way or another. But I do think he gets emotionally involved and that could be a weakness from the business end of things. I heard, from a player who spent 7 years under Bollettieri, that Bollettieri is a much tougher businessman than Rick.

It's not unusual for academies to occasionally take a punt on a junior player and coach them for free. It's a tax deductible business venture. Ultimately, it's the rank and file who attend these academies who are footing the bill. Or at least that's the way one insider explained it to me.

I don't think Rick is a development coach, more a high-end junior performance coach. That's what we would call him in my neck of the woods.

The clip was hard work for me because Rick is a talker. I don't like too much waffle. I like concision. Less is more...give me BG anytime. I do like Rick though. He seems a thoroughly nice man who has a big heart when it comes to his players. The thing with academies is players leave to join the tour and don't return. It can only ever be that way...bit like graduating. Spanish academies are the exception.

Thanks for the chat....

[arturohernandez]

I do think Rick Macci has a heart. Sure, the clip is self serving but then who isn't self-serving in one way or another. But I do think he gets emotionally involved and that could be a weakness from the business end of things. I heard, from a player who spent 7 years under Bollettieri, that Bollettieri is a much tougher businessman than Rick.

It's not unusual for academies to occasionally take a punt on a junior player and coach them for free. It's a tax deductible business venture. Ultimately, it's the rank and file who attend these academies who are footing the bill. Or at least that's the way one insider explained it to me.

I don't think Rick is a development coach, more a high-end junior performance coach. That's what we would call him in my neck of the woods.

The clip was hard work for me because Rick is a talker. I don't like too much waffle. I like concision. Less is more...give me BG anytime. I do like Rick though. He seems a thoroughly nice man who has a big heart when it comes to his players. The thing with academies is players leave to join the tour and don't return. It can only ever be that way...bit like graduating. Spanish academies are the exception.

Thanks for the chat....

Thank you!!!

Yes, I can attest to that. My daughter trained at a small academy, Pinter tennis, in the Basque Country.

It's a completely different feel. Many of the coaches come back multiple summers. Former players come and pro coaches come here as well.

I have taken three privates and Adolfo the head pro very smoothly tweaked my game. I think both of us are surprised by how much better I am hitting in a few weeks.

It feels like magic...