Friday, August 23, 2002
Coach to the stars sizes up U.S. Open
By STEVE WILSTEIN
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK — Andre Agassi was his greatest student and Anna Kournikova his biggest disappointment.
Serena Williams worked on her timing under his tutelage the past week while rehabbing her sore left knee. Pete Sampras used to practice on his courts and got a long, stern letter from him recently on what it will take to win a Grand Slam title again.
The world's most famous tennis coach, 71-year-old Nick Bollettieri has befriended and, at times, feuded with many of the biggest names in the game. He's discovered and developed some and occasionally put them up in his house. He's seen them leave his academy in a huff and return with remorse. He's broken off with more than a few stars and made up with most, egos clashing and reconciling.
He runs his tennis academy in Florida like a boot camp for jocks, working 10 hours a day and overseeing a battery of coaches who drill and drive kids to their limit. He's a motivator and teacher, producing champions year after year.
Admire him or not, Bollettieri knows tennis and what it takes to win. With the U.S. Open starting Monday, no one is better at sizing up the field than this peripatetic man with the dark, leathery tan and wraparound shades.
As usual, he has multiple rooting interests on both sides of the main draw and the juniors.
There are Serena and Venus Williams, who have often come to his academy with their father to practice, and No. 11 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who was with Bollettieri for three years until last year. He has a sentimental favorite in former protege Monica Seles, and a junior hopeful in Maria Sharapova, a 15-year-old Russian.
In the men's draw, Bollettieri has long worked with Tommy Haas of Germany, seeded No. 3, and he has a potential star in Wimbledon juniors champ Todd Reid of Australia. And though it's been nine years since he worked with Agassi, who came to the academy at 14, Bollettieri retains a warm affection for him and a respect for the man he's become.
Bollettieri has something to say about everyone and everything in the game. Herewith are his thoughts on the state of some of the top players:
• Defending champion and No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt: “Every stallion's got to be rested. The last couple of weeks he's had to be massaged on the court. If you have to bet, you bet on Hewitt. He's the best in the world today, but he's been working his butt off.”
• Andre Agassi: “If Andre plays Hewitt (they could meet in the semifinals), Hewitt comes out ahead. Andre's stronger, Hewitt's faster. Andre creates shots, Hewitt puts those shots away. Andre moves the ball around better than Hewitt, Hewitt hits more outright winners. In the serve category, Hewitt is ahead. Everything stacks up for Hewitt, and the telling toll is that Andre is 11 years older. But the New York crowd likes Andre. That could make a big difference.”
• Pete Sampras: “I told Pete that he should go back to being an aggressive player. Come in, baby, come in. Don't worry about your tongue wagging. Let your shoulders droop and play your game, which is coming forward. The biggest differences in Pete Sampras today are that he's a split second slower and he's making a lot of mistakes off the running forehand. He's got to pick up his confidence, let the other players know he's still king. Right now, he's playing scared.”
• Serena and Venus Williams: “To beat both of them and not have one in the final is difficult to believe. Serena's left knee is not up to par, but she'll be ready. They're both way above everybody else right now.”
• Jennifer Capriati: “She's struggling a bit and I don't think she can win the U.S. Open. I think her serve will break down.”
• Martina Hingis: “For her to win it, she would have to attack about 50 percent more and play very close to the baseline. I don't think Venus and Serena will ever allow her to be No. 1 or 2 again.”
• Monica Seles: “I'd love to see her do it, but it would be difficult for her to get through two weeks of pounding and go all the way.”
• Daniela Hantuchova: “Watch out for her. She's not too far off of winning a big one. She moves beautifully.”
• Anna Kournikova: “Her mom had too much to do with her career and never let a coach really develop the game that Anna should have gone to. Her strokes are too long and too flat from the baseline and she never developed the serve. Did her modeling get in the way? I don't think so. The problems with her techniques started a long time ago. She came to me at 9 1/2 and she was here about five or six years. We put a lot of effort into her. It disappoints me tremendously because I think Anna Kournikova is a tremendous girl.”
———
Steve Wilstein is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at swilstein@ap.org
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