Will the famous Nick Bollettieri be able to produce an Andre Agassi from India
Lots of people have love and passion for the game of tennis and many of them may also have potential talent for the sport, but very few make it to the professional level. Why is that so? What is it that helps develop the talent of tennis players and enables them to mould their game into something which can be made into a career? The coach is the person who makes all this happen. The coach is responsible for taking an amateur and developing him or her into a professional.
The game of tennis has become very competitive with time and it requires a very methodical and systematic approach. Players concentrate most of their time in training and working on their fitness which makes it difficult to pay attention to the tactics of the game. In order to help with this, there is the coach.
Over the years, we have seen many brilliant players who all have their coaches to credit for their marvellous success. One of the greatest coaches of all time is the well-known, Nick Bollettieri. He is the founder of the ‘Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy’ in Florida, America. Many professional tennis players, who have reached world number one rankings, have attended this academy in order to get training from the great Nick Bollettieri. In the past, Bollettier has developed the skill of many high achieving tennis players like Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Monica Seles. He has also worked with Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic and Nicole Vaidisova, all of who have reached the top in tennis rankings. Not to mention he has also worked with Serena Williams and Venus Williams who are the leading figures in ladies’ tennis at present.
Just recently, Nick Bollettieri has visited India for the first time and is there to select fifteen talented youngsters to whom he will be providing coaching to in his academy in Florida. This coaching legend has produced great tennis players including Andre Agassi who has been one the greatest players of all time. Now the question is whether Bollettieri has it in him to produce an Andre Agassi from these fifteen Indian amateur tennis players? It is indeed a challenge the coach is willing to take up.
Bollettieri has already set out to work and has started observing the potential talent young Indian tennis players may possess. After a careful note of how they play, the coach said that he feels that these Indian players need to work on their fitness to a greater extent. Now that tennis has become a very athletic game it requires players to be strong and most Indian players lack the physical strength needed to advance further in the game. He also says that the players need to be more aggressive against their opponents. Having a stronger belief in themselves and an attitude that says that ‘I’m here to play like a warrior’, is what is needed out on the court in order to be victorious.
He believes that the game of tennis is lagging behind in India because there are not enough tournaments being organized. Tournaments give a chance to the players to compete against each other and to find out what they are up against. This motivates them to further improve their game so that they can beat their opponents.
The Indian Express News asked Bollettieri in an interview that what makes his academy and his training so different from the rest. The coach said that his military background is what makes him demand more from his students and makes him put the players through excessive training in order to acquire goals which they do not even expect from themselves. He realises that this may sound harsh, but he also knows that in today’s world tennis has become a very competitive sport and players cannot survive in the professional tennis scenario unless they develop high levels of physical as well as mental strength. Mental strength is important to keep the players ready to face talent equivalent or even better than their own.
Bollettieri seems to have high expectations from the selected Indian tennis players and is certain that if given the right training they will manage to play at the professional level and may even climb to the top. It would be pure genius if Bollettieri manages to produce a great player like Agassi from India. What more would Indians want?
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