#27: Christian Groh – The Rise of Fritz & The Return of Haas

In this episode you are going to listen to Christian Groh, Christian was an ATP ranked player himself & then went directly into coaching after pulling the plug as a player. Christian has worked with the likes of Michael Berrer & Bradley Klahn & was the Coach who guided Taylor Fritz to the US Open Junior title & the number 1 spot in the junior rankings. Christian is currently the coach of German Veteran Tommy Haas & has been so since 2012.

In this episode you’ll get to know:

– The steps Christian & Taylor Fritz worked on in order to successfully transition from a great junior into a professional senior player

– How the coaching relation with Tommy Hass came about despite the fact that Haas is actually older than Christian.

– The fine line between being self-confident & having to big of an ego

Christian is based in San Diego, Rancho Santa Fe where it is possible to play outdoors all year. Make sure to say hi to Christian on Social & tell him what parts of the interview you liked!

Enjoy the show!

Timestamps

01:30 How Christian started working with Tommy Haas
03:05 How it works for a coach while a player is injuried
04:43 Christians considerations before starting to work with Tommy
06:06 Being younger than your player
07:15 What Haas would say about Christian
08:15 How to balance the on & off court life on tour
09:29 How Christian nurtures his mind when on the tour
10:09 The difference in working with Haas & Fritz
12:03 What made Fritz decide to fully focus on tennis
13:44 The steps that lead Fritz into the top 100
15:03 The off-court transiton steps for Fritz into the top 100
16:25 Taylor Fritz’s biggest room for improvement
17:18 How Fritz being married will affect his career
18:26 It’s really not that glamorous
20:37 The biggest challenges when traveling on tour
22:36 How to go about communicating with your boss who also happens to be the player you are working with
24:15 No regrets
25:37 Being surrounded by the best athletes in the world
26:27 Persistence
28:06 Stress tolerance
30:26 Integrity
33:27 How Christian gets better as a coach
36:02 The value of time
37:08 The way Haas practices
38:30 How to deal with fiery guys
38:23 How Christian would go about training Haas if he had been 14 years old
41:23 How the level has changed
42:11 Ego vs self confidence
44:58 Christian’s advice