Dissecting High Performance In Tennis

Do you ever wonder how you compare to the best players in the world? Well now you can find out – thanks to Universal Tennis Rating – the UTR. Mark Leschly, Universal Tennis CEO is with me to talk about the rating that is unifying tennis worldwide. Mark combines both an in depth knowledge and experience in sports and tennis with nearly 25 years of entrepreneurial management and investment in technology led businesses as a venture capitalist and start up CEO. He is a former ATP ranked player selected to the Danish Davis Cup Team, two time Captain and #1 player for Harvard Men’s Tennis and a member of the USTA Foundation Advisory Board and USTA Player Development Council just to name a few of Mark’s achivements. You’ll get to know: – How UTR works – How UTR predicted Hyeon Chungs big year – What inefficient practices consists of Enjoy the show Timestamps 01:30 The story of UTR 02:10 How does UTR work 03:05 Getting a UTR 06:15 UTR predicting Hyeon Chung’s success 08:00 Pablo Careno Busto 09:10 Breaking down barriers 11:35 Opportunity for change 12:40 Learning to rely on yourself 13:40 Unify tennis. 14:15 No applicability to competition 15:45 Inefficient practice 17:10 Variety in styles 18:15 Get to know more about UTR

Today you are going to listen to Carlos Kirmayr. Carlos is a former professional player himself with a career high of #37 in singles and #6 in doubles, ATP. He has coached such renowned players as Gabriella Sabatini, Conchita Martinez, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and has been the Davis Cup Captain of his home country Brazil for several years. Further more Carlos has served at the ATP Board of Directors from 1983-1987 and today spents the majority of his time managing the Kirmayr Tennis Experience which we touch upon during the podcast. In this episode you’ll learn: – Why No Trust means No Opportunity – How and why to accept craziness – How being a tennis coach is like being a doctor Enjoy the show! Timestamps 01:30 Coaching Philosophy 02:25 How you “feel” a player 03:20 Orienters 04:30 No trust, no opportunity 06:15 Thoughts on technique 08:40 Biomechanical principles 10:10 The slice 11:10 Sabatini 13:06 Taking risks 15:00 Learnings from Sabatini 16:30 Sabatinis learnings 17:30 Conchita Martinez 20:05 How to use Squash as conditioning 21:05 Nicolas Pereira 23:05 Kirmayr Tennis Experience 27:00 Brazil as a culture 30:10 Federer and Nadal 33:20 How Carlos gets better 37:15 Patience 38:30 Accepting craziness 41:10 Lack of intensity and focus 43:50 Carlos’ advice

Chris Trieste (@CTrieste2), is a veteran educator with extensive experience in coaching, teaching, and educational leadership. He has been the Head Men’s Tennis Coach at Mount Saint Mary College where he was twice named Coach of the Year & the team won its first conference championship in program history. Further more Chris released a book called ”14 great coaches” last year which is also to a great extent the basis of this interview. In this episode you’ll get to know: – The lessons of 14 great Coaches – How to Recognize & Reward – How to learn from more & less experienced coaches Enjoy the show!

This is a round 2 with Allistair McCaw which many of you have requested. Allistair barely needs another introduction on the podcast, but shortly he is a Sports Performance Specialist with more than 20 years of experience. He has trained a host of world champion athletes including Grand Slam Tennis champions, PGA Golfers and Olympians. Further more Allistair has written the book called “7 keys to being a great coach” and on this very date October the 7th his latest book “Championminded” is published world wide. In this episode you’ll get to know: – What Champion Minded means – How Kevin Anderson changed his self talk – Why you need to seek out though leaders not cheer leaders Enjoy the show! Timestamps 01:30 Championminded 04:00 Communication of the young generation 06:05 Average- vs champion minded 14:40 How Kevin Anderson changed his self-talk 18:20 Confident or cocky? 20:00 How to act on Social Media as a tennis player 22:40 Being comfortable being uncomfortable 24:15 Though leaders not cheerleaders 26:30 Being Championminded is a choice

Dave Miley has an incredible amount of experience within high performance in tennis having been the Owner of Record tennis for 10 years before joining the ITF for 24 years where 18 of those were as the Executive Director of Development You’ll get to know: – The difference between succesful an unsuccesful associations – What professional tennis could do better – Which contries that will rise to the top in the future Enjoy the show! Timestamps 01:30 3 biggest wins while serving as technical director 04:12 Why doubles is important 05:30 Why ATP/WTA is not simulating 06:45 How professional tennis could be better 09:23 The Advances Coaches Manual 11:11 What Dave would add/remove from the manual 12:11 The reasoning for Play & Stay 14:06 Greatest challenges as Technical Director 17:18 What Dave would have loved to do 22:02 Most common mistakes of National Associations 26:03 National Associations that got it right 33:45 Concerns regarding GPTCA 38:23 What Dave would like to do going forwards 43:30 How Dave would teach coaches in 3 easy steps 46:53 The countries rising to the top in the future 49:35 The Grand Slam Development Funds 52:15 The importance of the serve 53:50 How Dave gets better 58:15 The books that have inspired Dave 60:30 Your reputation is everything 61:40 Using time effectively 67:00 Dave’s advice

Jonny Fraser (@scienceintennis) has a wealth of experience in tennis having been a strength and conditioning coach for more than 7 years working with players from mini tennis to full-time professionals. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a Master Tennis Performance specialist certified by the iTPA. Further he has partnered with Claudio Pistolesi Enterprise. Academically Jonny holds a MSc in Sports and Exercise Science from Sheffield Hallam University. You’ll get to know: – The science behind grunting – How to implement sports science in tennis – Why the advice of “be on you toes” boggles his mind Enjoy the show! Timestamps 01:30 The Science behind grunting 05:50 Teaching tennis players how to grunt 07:50 Breathing vs noise 08:30 Differences in age groups, genders & levels 11:00 When & how 13:30 Implementing sports science in tennis 26:45 Sleep hygiene 28:10 Wearable technology 29:45 Don’t be afraid to reach out 31:35 Mark Kovacs & Claudio Pistolesi 33:30 Adaptability 34:30 Cleaning helps you form ideas 35:15 You’re never on your toes in tennis 35:45 Stability & mobility 38:05 Recharge your battery 39:30 Race your own race

David Sammel is a tennis coach, sports consultant and writer. Since 2010, David has been the Head Coach at Team-Bath MCTA and is also the author of the book Locker Room Power: Building an Athlete’s Mind.David has coached players including Liam Broady, Arvind Parmar, Barry Cowan, Wesley Moodie, Martin Lee and Andrew Richardson. You’ll get to know: – What RIOT is – The building blocks of trust – How being mentally strong starts with proper technique Enjoy the show! Timestamps 01:30 Leadership 03:50 RIOT 12:50 The one thing 24:45 Sum up of RIOT 36:20 Building blocks of trust 37:20 Mentally strong starts with good technique 41:30 Round 3

Alon Moritz is what he himself calls a high performance advisor to CEO’s of Tennis & CEO’s of businesses. He has previously been a national coach for Israel & helped players such as Marinko Matosevic & Marcel Granollers develop strategies in life & on the court. Currently Alon is working with Ivan Dodig. You’ll get to know: – The steps of creating a Match Strategy – How & why to train Defined Concentration – Why Bresnik & Cahill are such good coaches Enjoy the show! Timestamps 01:30 Wimbledon Final: Cilic vs Federer 03:50 Creating a strategy 05:46 Business to tennis 07:20 Developing a match strategy with a tennis player 09:30 Defined Concentration 12:00 Calming yourself down in high pressure situations 14:15 Mikael Tilström & Magnus Norman 15:50 Gunther Bresnik & Darren Cahill 17:40 No model fits all 18:30 If you stop playing you stop tinkering 21:15 Ice baths doesn’t work 22:15 Minimize injuries, optimize power 23:30 Be who you are 24:35 Alon’s Advice

Jo Ward is a former player herself with a career high of #150 WTA. She has been a National Coach for the LTA, traveled on the WTA Tour as a coach & started back in January 2006 a Tennis Academy in the UK called WimX. Currently Jo is writing a workshop for the LTA with the purpose of educating & empowering coaches to better coach girls & women. You’ll get to know: – How we don’t realize how little we know about women – How women are different, but not limited – How coaches are not to blame, it’s the environment Timestamps 01:30 The steps from professional to pH.d about female tennis 06:30 Challenges as a coaching team solved among friends 09:05 Facilitating a great coaching environment 11:30 How current Coach Education is based on men 14:15 Practical consequences for coaches 16:55 Biggest myth encountered in coaching female tennis players 19:00 Differences not limitations 21:30 Women’ Tennis Players are not less skillful 22:45 A move towards a more scientific robust & metrics based analysis of tennis 23:30 How Jo tries to get better 24:10 Billie Jean King & Bounce 29:20 Please don’t label anyone a talent 30:35 Why resilience is crucial 32:45 We don’t understand how little we know about women 33:38 The coaches haven’t gotten it wrong it’s the environment 35:10 Only do things that are pragmatic to the match court 37:37 Coach the player, not the model 39:10 Jo’s favourite metrics 44:00 Know yourself & your goals

Sarah Stone is a former player herself with a career high of #600 in singles & #131 in doubles. She has been coaching on the WTA Tour for more than 10 years working with Anastasia Rodinova, Romina Oprandi, Vasillisa Bardina & Samantha Stosur. Currently Sarah is the CEO of the WTCA (Women’s Tennis Coaches Association) & she is coaching American Fed Cup Player Alexa Glatch You’ll get to know: – How WTCA can make you a better coach – How to build trust – How to handle yourself when coaching relations end Enjoy the show! Timestamps 01:30 The story of WTCA 03:00 The relation to male vs female players 04:22 Creating trust with a player 07:00 How to talk about weight with tennis players 08:30 How WTCA is contributing with education 11:40 How to educate yourself through GPTCA 15:41 How Sarah Stone improves as a tennis coach 17.30 How to leave a coaching relationship 18:45 How to handle yourself as a coach when relations end 20:30 What are the things that you believe that everyone else think is crazy? 21:30 How following online videos is the biggest waste of time 24:00 Being a self-promoter as a tennis coach is not bad 25:00 Why you shouldn’t care about what other’s think about you 26:00 Sarah’s advice to coaches, parents & players