Joel Drucker on Player Development; Larcher de Brito Gets Ranked
I've had several interesting conversations with tennis journalist Joel Drucker about player development, the most recent at Wimbledon, when I was working on stories about what was going on in Great Britain and in Australia on that front. In this story for espn.com, Drucker reveals his basic suspicion of the concept of player development, and for the most part, I agree with him. So does Craig Tiley, the head of player development in Australia, who you might think would lean more to the side of the federation as nurturer. Tiley told me at Wimbledon however that he believes a federation should supply a pathway, but the only person ever responsible for developing a champion is the champion.
Michelle Larcher de Brito, the 14-year-old phenom from Portugal, had two disappointing Junior Grand Slams, losing in the first round at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. But her next stop after New York was the $75K in Albuquerque, where as a wild card, she defeated Christina Wheeler, Jelena Pandzic and Vavara Lepchenko before losing, in three sets, to the eventual champion Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay. Because it takes three pro tournament results before a WTA player can earn a ranking, Larcher de Brito just now has entered the WTA computers, at No. 364. Tennis Week has this story about how that stacks up with some of the best 14-year-olds of the past dozen years.
In Italy today, the two U.S. teams rebounded from their losses on Thursday to take 3-0 decisions against Croatia (boys) and Argentina (girls), and will play for fifth place on Saturday. Croatia was seeded No. 2, and to finish fifth, the boys will need to beat No. 3 France. Argentina was seeded eighth; to finish fifth, the girls must defeat No. 1 seed The Netherlands. Eleanor Preston spoke to Coco Vandeweghe about the Junior Fed Cup experience in today's itftennis.com wrap-up story.
13 comments:
another informative post. despite craig tiley downplaying the impact of junior development, it does seem the australian junior program has really taken off in almost every age group with his involvement. there are obviously no guarantees that their success will translate at the next level, but it is attention getting at the junior level nonetheless.
What do you all think about the new move of the USTA High Performance to Evert Academy?
the tomic kid was already one of the best in the world before he moved to Australia. greg jones and the others were already very good as well. Tiley hasnt been there long enough to give him credit for these kids.
Tomic took up tennis after his family moved to Australia.
As for the Evert initiative, I understand the need for a central place with housing to host training camps, but I'm not sold on the academy model. If it were my money and my call, I would distribute it to many more players for coaching and travel expenses.
the point on Tomic was that he was already one of the best in the world before Tiley ever saw him. he had absolutely nothing to do with his development in becoming that good. He now has control over the funds provided to him through Tennis Australia but nothing to do with his coaching whatsoever. im sure its like here in the U.S. whereby the U.S.T.A. takes credit for developing players because they send them on some trips but the coaches at their local clubs are the ones who actually put in the oncourt work and develop them.
does now know the kids going to the USTA Evert thing?
I'm still waiting for a list from the USTA.
Colette,
Even at 14/15 it was obvious that Evert, Hingis, Graf, Sabatini and Henin were going to be exceptional players. Is there something about her game that makes you feel she will be one of the best in the world, or does she just have an exceptionally mature game for someone so young?
I think Joel Drucker actually got the point and lost it in his very first sentence. America might be good at building economies (perhaps) but their health care system is appalling. On the macro level they're a cohesive unit but on the micro level they're a fragmented system pulling in a thousand different directions. Subsequently, a national training system, while it works on the first level, can't function on the second.
I hope Tiley didn't really say that the only person responsible for developing a champion is the champion themselves. NO champion can get there on their own. They must have the proper support system for it to all come together. That means the proper on court coaching, the proper parents who guide them in the right direction and so on. No champion in their right mind would think they made themselves and i've never heard one say they had. Champions have to have the talent and discipline to want it but they can never do it alone. Perhaps some part of that statement is missing.
Andrew D:
Nothing about projecting pro success is ever obvious to me, but I think Michelle has the tools to be a great pro. She definitely needs to work on her serve, which frequently lets her down, and on adding some Hingis-like variety to her game, but she is a terrific ball striker who moves well and competes like crazy.
Colette,
Is the weakness in her serve a technical problem or due to her relatively slight stature?
Just a bit off topic: have you had the chance to see Alize Cornet play and, if so, what were your thoughts? I missed her matches at the Australian Open but gather she's now ranked in the top 60.
Agree with AndrewD that Hinges etc showed exceptional talent at a young age. I beleive she won the French Open juniors at 12. With that as the gold standard no girls are in the US pipeline.
if the usta (and tennis coaches) would teach, and emphasize a serve and volley game to women..then I do not believe that 12 year olds winning the junior Grand Slams needs to be a "Gold Standard". This goes for boys as well..but why not take athletic willing kids (and parents) to forsake rankings and Gold Balls, and trophies..and just concentrate on this style of play? Is the modern equipment really the reason why this would not work? Look at Navratilova about three years ago. I remember she took a set off Hantuchova while in her 40's. Mcenroe the same. Put him up against anybody in the world for just one set, and that style of play would be disruptive. I cannot wait to see how Sampras can do against Fed with this in their upcoming match (not sure when?)..this style of play takes time to develop, but the current mentality of junior tennis (not just usta!) does not support this. I would love to see some coach take some athletic kid..let him get hammered in the juniors..all the while training this kid in stealth mode..and then watch the success later on that this style would have in the PRO game. It could make players like the Williams sisters obsolete!!
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