Shubert’s Blog – Don’t Fret, Coaching During Matches

Written by: Staff on 4th May 2012

Shubert's Blog - Don't Fret, Coaching During Matches |

I feel like I have to include a disclaimer to this story as I’m not sure all the good people at 10sballs.com will agree with my point of view on this topic. The topic in question is that of coaching during matches. It’s part of my job to observe and review what I see on a daily basis at tennis tournaments that I travel to, and it is obvious that coaching goes on during tournament matches (Junior or Open divisions). The ITF and ATP supposedly “stick” to the rules that state that there should be no coaching, which includes signals and signs, but I’m claiming bullocks on that. The USTA abhors coaching and any kind of contact a player has with the outside world beyond the fences. The ITF is tough on people at their events, but it still goes on. I’ve witnessed every single ATP player having conversations with his box or coach with one exception: Roger Federer. Now, to balance out the argument, the WTA has implemented on-court coaching once a set, thus coaching is ALLOWED during the match. Let’s continue down the rabbit hole and see if we can find a trend

It seems like the only place where people get truly upset about coaching during a match is in the United States. This seems crazy to me because the people getting upset are coaches and parents. Isn’t it their job to try enhance their player’s chances to win and do well? Isn’t the goal to become a good tennis player, generate a good learning curve, get nationally ranked, go to college on a full-scholarship or go pro? How are they supposed to get there without help? Now let’s look at those last two things, collegiate tennis and pro tennis. As I’ve discussed, coaching goes on during matches in the pros, it’s almost blatant. What about college? I’ve seen collegiate head coaches basically walk their players through matches holding their hands the entire time. So wherever you end up, there’s going to be coaching agree? In my personal experience, I was at a disadvantage in college because I was not used to getting coached during a match (which is deemed normal and acceptable), and thus it cost me matches because I felt uncomfortable. I wish I had gotten used to positive external stimuli or a voice on the side during my matches when I was younger so it didn’t come back to bite me later on. Again, from personal experience, I learned more about myself and about the sport when I had to clinch conference championships and only could have done so if my coach, Brad Pearce, was in my ear helping me along the way so I didn’t screw it up. So, are U.S. kids getting the short end of the stick or are we doing it to ourselves? Seems like the rest of the world’s nations have their acts together in terms of developing and coaching the world’s next best tennis players.

I say start coaching ‘em early during tournaments so that parents and coaches don’t waste money weekend after weekend letting their kids go out on court, lose badly, blame their parents and coaches for not providing them the right information or preparation, and inevitably hate the sport because they aren’t learning or having fun. Everyone’s been through that scenario, you get blown out, you’re angry, and you’re looking for help, but because the sport’s rules state “no coaching”, you’re left lonely trying to fend for yourself and it sucks. It’s almost a hypocritical system – don’t allow any coaching through the juniors, then somehow get to the higher levels and you’re all of a sudden blessed with help. Doesn’t make sense huh?

In Spain, if a coach is watching one of their players on court, you better believe there’s coaching going on. And guess what, the opponent across the net has his/her coach doing the exact same thing the entire match too! And then what happens next? A beautiful thing – Both players start playing a better tactical match, the level of play increases, pressure builds, and Voila, both players get BETTER. In this way, they’re not crabs in a bucket, but rather helping each other play good tennis, improve, and build off of each other. So next time you see or hear a player getting some help or advice on court during a match, think twice before wagging a finger.

Topics: 10sballs.com, ATP tennis news, Brad Pearce, ITF tennis news, Junior Division, Open Division, Spanish tennis news, Sports, Tennis News, Thomas Shubert, US tennis news, Voila