Paul McNamee Attacks Coaching Structure of Tennis Australia

Written by: Staff on 11th February 2013

Paul McNamee Attacks Coaching Structure of Tennis Australia |

After a couple of crisis years, the future fortunes of Australian tennis seemed to be taking a turn for the better after youngsters Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis contested the boys final in the recent Australian Open and 16 year-old Ash Barty reached the final of the women’s doubles.

But former Australian Open tournament director Paul McNamee has attacked the coaching structure adopted by Tennis Australia, describing it as fatally flawed. And he immediately found a high-profile supporter in the shape of former Wimbledon champion and Aussie Davis Cup hero Pat Cash.

In open letter to coaches, McNamee stressed the need for private coaches to be integrated into the system rather than ostracized. And if this trend is not reversed, he believes Australian tennis is doomed.

McNamee cited the example of an unnamed Australian player at Wimbledon last year who was under the guidance of their fourth coach in 12 months and how it was affecting this particular individual’s progress.

The letter read: “It’s fair to say that coach may come from anywhere, and may pop up at any moment, but it’s equally true that the most likely person to play that role is your coach in your formative teenage years, just like Ian Barclay was to Pat Cash.

“Well, at least that’s how it used to be until the Tennis Australia juggernaut decided to engage in and endeavor to monopolize the coaching industry, including directly employing coaches itself and designating which talented players they work with.

“What is the consequence of the Tennis Australia approach? At the junior level, how many players have been lured away from their private coaches into ‘the system’ and placed under the care of a ‘better’ coach? Worse than that, the players have been subjected to the TA coaching merry go round.

“Several of our most talented players in recent years have been shunted from one coach to another, under the direction of our governing body.

“At Wimbledon this year, I saw an Aussie player, part of the TA system, with the fourth coach in 12 months. I don’t need to tell you that a mix of inputs like that, however knowledgeable and well meaning, is a recipe for disaster.

“I don’t blame the individual coaches for accepting a very attractive employment option but, as our results demonstrate, the TA player development strategy is fatally flawed in my view. After all, systems do not produce champions, people do.

“As a consequence, and I’m not alone in saying this, we’ve pretty much lost a generation of players who have not transitioned to the Tour.

“For each one of those players, there’s one of you coaches out there who’s hurting and bemoans that fact, and who wished the outcome had been different. For the sake of Australian tennis, this must not continue.”

Cash supported McNamee in all he said and added: “Tennis Australia have such a poor success rate only surpassed by the Lawn Tennis Association in the UK. To me the missing ingredient is so obvious.

According to Cash, Tennis Australia has long failed to utilize all the coaching experience waiting on their doorstep in the form of ex-players including themselves along with the likes of Peter McNamara, Jason Stoltenberg, Richard Fromberg and many others.

“In fact I offered to help them in this area so many times over the years I’ve given up bothering,” said Cash. “They have wasted another generation of talent and there’s another to follow by the looks of it.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Australian tennis news, Ian Barclay, Pat Cash, Paul Mcnamee, Tennis Australia