HOW CANADA DEVELOPED ITS CURRENT TENNIS CHAMPIONS

Written by: Staff on 1st September 2014

HOW CANADA DEVELOPED ITS CURRENT TENNIS CHAMPIONS

epa04373444 Eugenie Bouchard of Canada waves after defeating Sorana Cirstea of Romania during the fourth day of the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 28 August 2014. The US Open runs through 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/JASON SZENES |

Tennis Canada’s former CEO, Michael Downey, who now leads Britain’s LTA, has described three important guidelines to developing young players.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Downey talked about how he changed Tennis Canada’s development system to the one that assisted in producing three of the sport’s rising players — Milos Raonic, Eugenie Bouchard, and Vasek Pospisil.

Vasek Pospisil of Canada hits a return to Simone Bolelli of Italy during the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, Meadows, New York, USA, 25 August 2014. The US Open runs through Monday 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO

1. Willingness to adjust — the federation provides a national training center at Montreal, but also financed Raonic’s training in Spain and Bouchard attending the Saviano academy. The organization has also brought in foreign coaches, including Louis Borfiga to run the program and Bob Brett to work with juniors.

“Federations do not develop champions,” he said. “If a federation thinks they actually develop a champion, they are out to lunch. You assist. You are improvising.”

2. Work with parents — even when they are challenging.

“We brought in all of the coaches and trained them in conflict management,” he said. The dean of one of the nation’s top business schools was brought in for the purpose.

3. Watch the spending — some of the best-financed federations, like the LTA and USTA, have not been the most successful. Britain’s top juniors will no longer train at LTA’s 40 million pound National Tennis Centre, it was recently announced, reflecting the approach.

“More money can mean you do too much and you don’t have any focus,” he said. “Part of the success with Tennis Canada is we had no money but we went out and raised it when we needed it.”

Milos Raonic of Canada hits a return to Peter Gojowczyk of Germany on the fourth day of the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 28 August 2014. The US Open runs through 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO

The federation fundraised to send Raonic to Spain.

With Canadian tennis now having a representative on both the men’s and women’s top 10, the LTA is looking for similar results.

Topics: Genie Bouchard, Lta, Michael Downey, milos raonic, Tennis, Tennis Canada, Vasek Pospisil

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10sBalls_com says:

August 29, 2014 at 8:19 am

HOW CANADA DEVELOPED ITS CURRENT TENNIS CHAMPIONS- http://t.co/bbG4ye7PeU #tennis #Canada #USOpen #milosraonic #EugenieBouchard #Pospisil
JMichelDemers says:

September 1, 2014 at 9:12 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: HOW CANADA DEVELOPED ITS CURRENT TENNIS CHAMPIONS- http://t.co/bbG4ye7PeU #tennis #Canada #USOpen #milosraonic #EugenieBo…