Tenisiści i ich trenerzy

[Damian]

Javier Frana nowym konsultantem Baeza.

[Damian]

Kecmanovic nawiązuje współpracę z Ivanem Cinkusem, który nadal jest szkoleniowcem Cilicia. Jednak z powodu kontuzji Marina, gdzie Chorwat będzie pauzował przez 5 miesięcy, od przyszłego tygodnia Cinkus rozpocznie pracę z aktualnym 33 na świecie.

[Damian]

Coaches Excited For World Tennis Conference 3

Spoiler:

Toni Nadal, Frederic Fontang and Vincenzo Santopadre all participating
Preparations are ramping up ahead of the third World Tennis Conference, with many world class coaches signing up for the event.

Organised by the Global Professional Tennis Coaches Association (GPTCA) and the Segal Institute, the event will be held virtually from 30 March – 2 April. After a successful first two editions, the conference continues its mission to connect the world’s top high-performance tennis coaches and sports scientists with other coaches and people around the world.

The four-day programme is thoughtfully designed to raise the level of understanding surrounding player development, while helping ambitious tennis coaches on their journey of self-development.

Visit World Tennis Conference Website To Sign Up

Giles Cervara, Federic Fontang, Vincenzo Santopadre and Toni Nadal are among the 68 talented speakers participating. Hear from some of the coaches who are part of the event as they describe the importance of the conference.

Gilles Cervara – (Coach of World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev)
“I’m very pleased and honoured to be part of the third World Tennis Conference by GPTCA/SI supported by ATP. I am very grateful to be among all these great tennis coaches of the Tour. Congratulations to the organisation. I think it is very important to try to inspire and to help other coaches from all over the world to improve to be a better tennis coach day after day… This is my case too. I will be watching many WTC presentations to keep learning and improving my own style of coaching absorbing some other ideas. I’m glad to be connected and help coaches from all over the world who want to connect with me.”

Frederic Fontang – (Coach of World No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime)
“My perception about the importance of the World Tennis Conference by GPTCA/SI supported by ATP for three years now is that it's important to share the knowledge between the coaches and committed people because it is an individual sport where we must take the habit to see and share our knowledge. You as a tennis coach must reflect, to put on paper your ideas, having a reflection on how to improve and of course to share that with other coaches and the tennis community. It is very important because tennis is growing and improving. When you give in general in life, you receive. I hope you will enjoy WTC3.”

You May Also Like: Toni Nadal, Gilles Cervara Among Speakers At World Tennis Conference
Alberto Castellani – (Former coach of Rainer Schuettler, Marc Rosset, Hicham Arazi, Janko Tipsarevic and Ivo Karlovic)
“As GPTCA President and a tennis coach, I always believe that the tennis coach needs to know a lot of things. The knowledge has to improve during all their careers. I also said that the coach is like an artist. We must put together these two things. The coach must use imagination and creativity a lot of time to work on a lot of exercises, in every project and with the player´s relationship. Also, we need to use our social intelligence using empathy to everyone in our project. In the same way, we should use a scientific approach and rules of planification. We are artists and scientists together. This conference puts us in front of so many experts in different fields.”

Marco Panichi – (Physical coach of World No. 2 Novak Djokovic)
“The process of sharing information with an open mind to improve the training of players, as well as the processes and programmes, applied is a need and a common goal of each of us in our profession. In my third participation in the World Tennis Conference by GPTCA/SI with ATP support, I believe that we are on a path of continuous improvement, and I am honoured to be one of the many speakers who contribute their ideas and experience to develop more and better player projects.”

Vincenzo Santopadre – (Coach of World No. 23 Matteo Berrettini)
“I think all of us were born to be better each day. In that sense, it is important to observe what’s happening in the tennis world and in general to continue having an open mentality to keep learning and feel that we are going in the right pathway in our lives. We need to be curious, and passionate in what to do, to be ready to learn and grow especially in different areas. The World Tennis Conference is helping us a lot to listen to several ideas and concepts from others. This is a way to create growth having the will to be better each day by day with optimism and a positive mentality. The best I can wish for everybody is to have that kind of open mentality and to help each other.”

Liam Smith – (Former coach of Gael Monfils, Coco Gauff and Radu Albot)
“Tennis coaches getting together and sharing ideas, knowledge and experiences is incredibly valuable. There is always something to learn by no matter how long you have been coaching. There is always new ideas, and new ways to look at things from different perspectives and that is what makes coach conferences like World Tennis Conference so valuable. I am really looking forward to seeing all the presentations and I feel honoured to be part of the 3rd edition of WTC.”

Franco Davin – (Coach of World No. 45 Brandon Nakashima and WTA World No. 11 Veronika Kudermetova – Former coach of Juan Martin Del Potro and Gaston Gaudio)
“I believe in continuous learning in our profession. It is very important and good for our sport to have an event like the World Tennis Conference by GPTCA/SI with ATP Support. It is key to have important coaches on the circuit together with experts and legends all together giving their opinion, and sharing knowledge with everyone, since tennis is a sport that has so many edges to analyse and learn and it is very good for everyone to participate. This is a great conference and opportunity to be a better coach and I am very glad to be part of it.”

Dominik Hrbaty – (Slovakia Davis Cup captain)
“The World Tennis Conference is one of the best ways to learn, to see other approaches in tennis, and is a huge library of knowledge for me. It´s crazy how much you can find, how much you can search in all aspects of the game and just going on and on. Whatever you need to have with your player or you try to find some response to help someone like a coach, you can always find it there. I learned so much of it because I like to listen, I like to see different styles of different ways of other coaches.”

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/world-t ... es-preview

[Damian]

Russell On What Fritz Has 'Deep Down Inside'

Spoiler:

Frtitz to play Alcaraz in Miami quarter-finals
Taylor Fritz enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2022, winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells and qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. The American has picked up this year where he left off.

The 25-year-old helped lead the United States to the United Cup title and is now 20-5 on the season. After defeating Holger Rune on Tuesday to reach the Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-finals, he climbed to sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. Next up will be defending champion and World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz

ATPTour.com caught up with Fritz’s coach, Michael Russell, about his consistently improving level, what people do not know about the American and more.

Taylor had an amazing year in 2022 and it would have been easy for him to potentially struggle a little bit this year after that breakthrough. But he seems very within himself at that level this year. How do you see it?
It’s been great. A lot of times that freshman year breaking into the Top 10 sometimes the expectation and even self-doubt can sometimes creep in. But Taylor’s always had that self confidence.

He’s got a great team around him as well that helps remind him how good he is and we continue to work on everything and continue to progress and not get complacent. That’s a big part of it. You set the goals and you set Top 10, set Top 5, but you have to keep changing those goals and creating goals, even individual tournament goals, ranking goals and most importantly, process goals. Just improving your game.

You’re known for how hard you work with your players. After a year like last year did you take it up a notch? Did you change your plan with him?
It’s a balance. It’s a fine line. I think we can always work harder, but you also have to work smart. Taylor is a big guy, almost 6’5” and the way he plays is very explosive, powerful tennis, so we have to gear the training around that and then still have the endurance factor.

[It is about] explosive endurance and continuing to be able to play deep in tournaments and also deep in matches. That’s the ultimate goal, being able to play seven three-out-of-five set matches in a Grand Slam and keep that endurance.

Follow The Cast Of ATP Tour | Break Point

What is something that people don’t realise about Taylor or his game?
Personally he’s a very laid back guy, pretty soft spoken, more introverted. But when it comes to the actual competition and tennis aspect, he’s one of the best competitors I’ve seen and the public can see he’ll do anything to try to win that last point.

Sometimes it’s hard to mesh the two because you see a guy who’s pretty laid back and doesn’t show a ton of emotion when he’s playing, like really getting fired up. But deep down inside he has that burning desire the whole time.

Now that he has installed himself at the upper echelons of the game, what is the next step in his progression? How do you go from where he is now to climb even higher?
Number one is staying healthy, which we all know sometimes you can’t control that, or a lot of times you can. Just continuing to stay healthy with all the impact of the Tour, the travel, the different court surfaces, different balls to the different weeks.

It makes it challenging, so it’s really important that he stays healthy and then continuing to increase the strength, the stamina, his speed, so that his explosiveness and his power game can become even more powerful and more consistent and he can sustain that throughout the course of a whole year, so you don’t get as many fluctuations through the year, through tournaments. You try to stabilise those.

What’s the best match you’ve seen him play?
You have to dissect it by the years. Let’s just take this year, 2023. He’s played some really good matches. He played the finals, almost the whole match, for a set and three quarters against Kecmanovic in the finals of Delray. Taylor was up 6-0, 5-3 and had match points and Miomir hit some amazing shots to save match points.

But for that set and three quarters was some of the best tennis I’ve ever seen Taylor play. Literally every forehand he hit was a winner and every first serve he put in the court didn’t come back. When that combination is happening, I don’t know anybody in the world who would be able to beat him.

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What’s your favourite part about coaching him?
He’s very respectful and he listens. He’s very stubborn, which you expect every great player to be. But he does listen and he does absorb and the communication factor, there’s a lot of synergy there, which is great. So there’s not any question as to what’s being said or if something’s not understood, we have a dialogue about it.

What’s the most stubborn thing he’s done while you’ve been coaching him?
We can say playing the finals of Indian Wells when he couldn’t even walk. That was extremely stubborn because we all, just based on his feelings and what he was explaining to us, it was the most excruciating pain he’s ever felt in his life.

We didn’t want him to have a career-ending injury not just for tennis, but for quality of life. He insisted on playing and obviously the rest we know what happened. He’s extremely stubborn on that front. A lot of times he’ll make decisions that he thinks are best, but usually the team goes along with it.

You May Also Like: Annacone Pulls Back The Curtain On Fritz's Unforgettable Indian Wells Win
If you could snap your fingers and make one thing happen with him what would it be and why?
I would love for Taylor to win a Grand Slam and be No. 1 in the world. That’s [the] main goal of course. I would love for him to have unlimited explosiveness and never get tired, ever. It’s a very open-ended question, so there is a lot of ambiguity there!

In hindsight, the physicality part, I would love it if he could play for eight hours and have more explosiveness than anybody in the history of tennis. Then I think the other two goals of winning a Grand Slam [and reaching No. 1] would happen for sure, but that’s our goal. I think he’s been working hard and that’s the ultimate goal.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/michael ... hes-corner

[Damian]

[Art]

Thiem rozstał się z Massu.

[Damian]

Thiem & Massu Announce Split

Spoiler:

Pair worked together for more than four years
Dominic Thiem announced on social media Saturday that he mutually decided with coach Nicolas Massu to end their player-coach relationship.

“What an incredible journey... It all started in early 2019 - you came along with your incredible energy and extreme love for the sport,” Thiem wrote on Instagram. “That's how we won the US Open and Indian Wells. But we also reached the finals of the Australian Open, the French Open, and twice at the Nitto ATP Finals. I think that shows we're an incredible team.

“But unfortunately, everything has an end and this end came now. We have decided together that we will go different ways starting next week.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this incredible and beautiful time Nico. I wish you only the best and our friendship will last forever.”


The pair’s partnership lasted more than four years. They first began working together in early 2019 and Thiem soon thereafter won his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. The Austrian claimed a career-best five titles that season and reached the final at Roland Garros and the Nitto ATP Finals.

In March 2020 Thiem reached a career-high No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and later that year, he captured his maiden major crown at the US Open.

In June 2021 the Austrian suffered a wrist injury. Since returning last March, Thiem has been working hard to find his best form.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/thiem-m ... april-2023

[Damian]

Monf kończy współpracę z Bresnikiem.
Do sztabu ponownie dołącza Tillstroem oraz były szkoleniowiec Van de Zandschulpa - Peter Lucassen.

[Art]

Mark Philippoussis nie poprowadzi Stefanosa Tsitsipasa do zwycięstwa w tegorocznym Roland Garros.

[DUN I LOVE]

Chyba nie było zaufania do procesu.

[Damian]

Philippoussis & Tsitsipas Split

Spoiler:

Australian breaks the news on Instagram
Mark Philippoussis announced on Instagram Tuesday that he is no longer working with Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“@stefanostsitsipas98 thank for the opportunity of being a part of your team,” Philippoussis wrote. “It was a great ride and experience, I’m proud of what we achieved together in the short amount of time we had. I wish you health, happiness and success for your future, on and off the court! ”


One of the brightest moments of the Philippoussis-Tsitsipas partnership came at this year’s Australian Open, where the Greek advanced to his second major final.

Ahead of this year’s BNP Paribas Open, Tsitsipas said of Philippoussis “Mark is a very wise man, he has a lot of knowledge.

“I think the fact that he’s lived these things himself on the tour and he’s able to provide some [advice] to me now is essential. He provides a lot of feedback. He can relate to a lot of things that have happened to me and sees a little bit of himself in me in some circumstances and situations.”

Tsitsipas is still coached by his father, Apostolos Tsitsipas. The Greek will enter Roland Garros as the fifth seed.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/philipp ... t-may-2023

[DUN I LOVE]

Stary będzie trenował Bena. Nie wiem, czy to dobry ruch.

[Damian]

Nowy człowiek w boksie Murray'a.

[Damian]

Patrick Mouratoglou's Best Moments In Newest Break Point Release

Spoiler:

Mouratoglou dishes on Kyrgios, Tsitsipas and more
In the first look at Season 1, Part 2 of Netflix’s Break Point, the focus turned to Serena Williams. As several of the show’s personalities said the American legend’s name, Patrick Mouratoglou asked, “Who?”

The Frenchman was joking, of course. Mouratoglou was Williams’ longtime coach. In Break Point, however, he dished on far more than his former charge.

ATPTour.com looks at the best Mouratoglou moments from the Netflix series.

You May Also Like: Andy Roddick's Best Moments In Newest Break Point Release
Patrick Dishes On Nick
The first two episodes of the batch focused on Wimbledon, with a lot of time spent on Nick Kyrgios and his breakthrough run to the final. The Australian’s talent has never been questioned, but could he put it together on the sport’s biggest stages?

“All his career so far, Nick has said, ‘I’m not practising, don’t expect anything from me’, because acting that way can just take away the pressure,” Mouratoglou said. “But now he realises that he can maybe win a major. If he starts to work, starts to be ambitious, the pressure suddenly takes him.”

Mouratoglou also said of Kyrgios: “This job is about dealing with pressure at the highest level. So if Nick wants to become a top champion and win Grand Slams, he will have to learn to deal with it, which is something he has never done before.”

High Praise For Novak
Kyrgios eventually met his match in the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic, who won his seventh title at SW19.

Mouratoglou said of the Serbian: “Beating Novak at Wimbledon is probably the highest mountain to climb for any tennis player.”

Follow The Cast Of ATP Tour | Break Point

Mouratoglou Helps Explain Tsitsipas
The drama of episodes six and seven revolved around the third-round Wimbledon clash between Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Mouratoglou knows the Greek well having helped coach him over the years. “Stef is an incredible player — I mean, he played a final of a Grand Slam,” Mouratoglou said. “And he is the model of professionalism. He is super aggressive in terms of wanting to dictate and be the boss on the court.”

As the story of the match unfolded, the tension levels were high.

“Stef is a fierce fighter and his emotional state is very high,” Mouratoglou said. “If he keeps it here, he’s super dangerous. If it goes too high, it plays against him.”

Patrick Succinctly Captures Tiafoe’s Story
Break Point helped viewers get to know Frances Tiafoe. His parents, from Sierra Leone, moved to the United States. His mother was a nurse who worked multiple jobs and his father was a maintenance worker at a tennis centre. Tiafoe sometimes slept in his father’s office and was able to play tennis for free.

Fast forward and the American was making a dream run at the US Open, where he upset Rafael Nadal en route to the semi-finals, captivating the New York crowd along the way.

Mouratoglou said of Tiafoe: “He’s one of the most incredible stories in our sport. Frances represents better than anyone the American dream.”

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/mourato ... n-1-part-2

[Damian]

Toni Nadal: 'Feliciano Lopez Is The Clearest Exponent Of Grass Tennis'

Spoiler:

An interview with the director of the Mallorca Championships
Editor's note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es.

The Mallorca Championships is one of the eight tournaments on the calendar that make up the grass swing. Its director, Toni Nadal, spoke to ATPTour.com about the peculiarities of the surface on which this ATP 250 tournament is played.

What do you need to play well on grass?
On grass the concept of tennis changes completely. While on clay you have to be a solid player with powerful and consistent shots from the baseline, here the court helps you when you have a good serve. When you hit the ball you don’t need so much power, but you have to hit it a little lower to make it hard for the opponent to return and that’s something that’s kind of forgotten in Spanish tennis, playing on grass.

The Official App Of Tennis | Download ATP WTA Live App

Which players embody that style of tennis?
Roger Federer. Also, Pete Sampras. And for the Spaniards, Feliciano Lopez, although Rafael [Nadal] has obviously had better results. I think Feli’s game was more suited to it in the strict sense of the grass game.

Speaking of Feliciano Lopez, he is one of the attractions at the Mallorca Championships, where he is ending his career...
We are lucky to have practically the biggest specialist here. It is true that Rafael was too, but Feliciano Lopez I think is the clearest exponent of grass tennis, with a powerful serve, with plenty of spin. He has some flat slice shots, which are very difficult for the opponent to return and he’s also a good volleyer. That's what you need to play here.


You’ve mentioned your nephew twice. Can you describe the process of making him into a great grass-court player?
Rafael is a player that adapted well to the grass court, and until he had knee problems, I think he was a great grass-court player. He played in the Wimbledon final in 2006 and 2007. He won in 2008. In 2009 he didn’t play, in 2010 he won a second title and in 2011 he was in the final again. That is, he played five consecutive finals at Wimbledon, which demonstrates his level.

Why did he adapt so well, even though it’s not his favourite surface?
Rafael adapted well because, despite not having a big serve, he had very good movement around the court, good mobility, his volley was good enough and his speed allowed him to play very well at Wimbledon. I think if he hadn’t had the knee injury that made it difficult to play on that surface, he would have won there more times.

You weren’t lucky enough to have a tournament at home like the Mallorca Championships you now direct.
No, unfortunately for us, the grass court was unusual. It was rare to play there. If we’d had this tournament at that time, we would have allowed ourselves to prepare here a certain time in advance, but that’s what there was at that time.That’s why, when I speak to those that run Spanish tennis, I say to them: "You don’t know how lucky you are to have a tournament of these characteristics here, a quality event, on a surface that’s quite unusual for us." [Manuel] Santana, to prepare for the Wimbledon he won, had to go to Australia. Nowadays you can come here and prepare and play with quality players here in Mallorca.



How important are the Mallorca Championships for the island?
It’s hugely important. Having been able to get all the people together who have come to play this tournament in the last three years is difficult to do. The Mallorca Championships has done that. We’ve had the opportunity to see [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, [Novak] Djokovic, [Daniil] Medvedev and [Dominic] Thiem.

The opportunity the island has had to welcome these players is important for tennis lovers, but it’s also good in terms of communication to have an event of this category, which enhances our island as a sporting destination. I think it’s essential for the island.

What are your views on the 2023 edition?
The tournament is growing every year. I think that both the event and the infrastructure in general is growing, and people notice that. This tournament, although it’s new, after just three years on the Tour — and we know how difficult it is at first to put events of this category on and for them to work immediately — is establishing itself further.

I believe the players are happy to play here and although this year we’ve had problems with injuries to several global players, the lineup is still very good. I know, because I spoke to the players, they are very happy, both with their treatment and everything that comes with playing here.

You May Also Like: Eubanks Wins First ATP Tour Title In Mallorca
Finally, are there any active players that have caught your eye on this surface?
Nowadays, tennis is very level, it has become a scientific sport — like almost all the others — in which you know what you have to do at all times, what you need to do to break down your opponent’s game. Evidently, the most special player today is Carlos Alcaraz, and he is the player to beat because of his speed and the intensity of his game.

It’s true that Djokovic is still up there and he’s proving his level. Despite the fact that he is now 36 and despite the fact that he is far from the level he played in 2011 and 2015, he is still the man to beat, having won the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/toni-na ... -interview

[Damian]

Remembering Barry Phillips-Moore, Player, Coach, Pioneer

Spoiler:

Australian was early coach to Mark Woodforde and many others
The tennis world is remembering Barry Phillips-Moore, former player, coach and the earliest adopter of the infamous ‘spaghetti-string’ racquet, which imparted extreme spin and was ultimately banned from the sport. Phillips-Moore passed away in Adelaide on 29 June, aged 85.

A two-time semi-finalist at the Australian Championships, Phillips-Moore grew up alongside Rod Laver, but broke the mould of the typical grass-loving Australian serve/volleyers, preferring to battle from the baseline, especially on clay. He won the Auckland title in 1968.

After his playing career, Phillips-Moore coached Paul McNamee, Peter McNamara, Harold Solomon and Eddie Dibbs before turning his attention to leading a group of young talent that fell outside traditional development pathways on European adventures with the help of a trusty minivan.

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One of his most famous prodigies was fellow Australian and Adelaide native Mark Woodforde, who went on to claim four singles titles and 67 doubles titles, including 12 majors.

After finishing high school, Woodforde joined up to eight other players (mostly Australians) on marathon nine-month tours of Europe. The players crammed into a minivan and shared driving responsibilities while Barry and his beloved wife Anne (who passed away in 2021) followed in their own car.

At the time, Phillips-Moore was adamant that the Europeans tours were a better option than the U.S. collegiate system. At the end of the tour the players would park the car in a hotel parking lot or the like and pick it up several months later during the next season.

“I never would have had a career had I not crossed paths with Barry Phillips-Moore,” Woodforde told ATPTour.com at Wimbledon this week. “He was my coach from the first year that I travelled overseas when I had the aspiration to be a professional tennis player.

“My dad laid the groundwork, but Barry gave me that belief that I could become a tennis player. And I never would have moved to that racquet, that special string (which was approved by authorities) if it weren’t for Barry.”

Barry's Boys: Former travelling companions <a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/mark ... view'>Mark Woodforde</a>, <a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rich ... w'>Richard Fricker</a>, Mike Derer (sitting), Marty Richards and <a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/gavi ... iew'>Gavin Pfitzner</a> with <a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/barr ... iew'>Barry Phillips-Moore</a> at a reunion at the Edinburgh Hotel in Adelaide.
Barry's Boys: Former travelling companions Mark Woodforde, Richard Fricker, Mike Derer (sitting), Marty Richards and Gavin Pfitzner with Barry Phillips-Moore at a reunion at the Edinburgh Hotel in Adelaide. Photo courtesy Mark Woodforde.

"Barry Phillips-Moore was a professor," said esteemed tennis journalist Richard Evans, the author of more than 20 books, including the outstanding ‘The History of Tennis’.

"Apart from bringing up lots of juniors, he was always fiddling around with racquets and stringing. He created a tighter way of stringing racquets so there was less space between the strings. He was just a real tennis guru and, as Mark Woodforde said, without Barry he would never have made it."

Phillips-Moore had a sports store in Adelaide and in later years would also sell tennis products – racquets, strings, clothing - out of the boot of his car during the European tours with his young players. Former World No. 71 Australian Carl Limberger was among Phillips-Moore’s protégées.

“I remember going into Barry’s family store in Adelaide when I was knee high to a grasshopper and looking up at all this stuff Barry had imported from Europe,” Woodforde said. “It was like being at the circus.

“When I grew up and I decided I wanted to try to become a tennis player, dad reached out to Barry. Barry and Anne came around to the house and said ‘If you want him to have a crack, we can take him away’.

“He had a relaxed approach and said it was okay to fail because I would learn from the mistakes. I had been used to having someone yelling at me and I was afraid to make mistakes. When I started working with Barry it was almost like tasting forbidden fruit.”

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/barry-p ... e-obituary

[Damian]

Alcaraz's Fast Learning Led To Wimbledon Title, Says Fitness Coach

Spoiler:

Juanjo Moreno, the World No. 1's physio, reflects on the grass season
This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es.

Among Carlos Alcaraz’s vast array of sporting weapons, there is one that is invisible to the TV cameras. It is a virtue that may go unnoticed by the fans as they witness his progress through a life dedicated to tennis, and one that has enabled him to enjoy a rapid rise on the tour, putting him a cut above the rest at just 20 years of age.

Carlos absorbs the admiration of the masses with an extraordinary ability to learn, channelling every experience into his own personal growth.

The Murcia native is the new Wimbledon champion, the holder of one of the most prestigious trophies in all of sport, and with barely any experience on grass courts. He has won two of the first 10 Grand Slams in which he’s played, and has already achieved more than most do in their entire careers. Already at the pinnacle of tennis, he is the youngest player ever to climb to the top of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

While the man of the moment attempts to comprehend his historic achievement, his physio and rehab specialist Juanjo Moreno, who is largely responsible for Alcaraz’s fitness, spoke to ATPTour.com about the current World No. 1’s strengths.

The Official App Of Tennis | Download ATP WTA Live App

Carlos arrived at Queen’s having played two tournaments on grass in his entire life. How did the team help put him in a position to win the tournament?
It’s a question that I’m often asked, not only by the press, but also other people in daily life and even professional colleagues. Managing to adapt in such a short space of time is difficult. It’s difficult for Carlos, for his team and for any athlete.

Science has shown that there are specific times in which physiological adaptations occur in all the systems that make up a sportsman. That adaptation very often doesn’t happen in the time the players have to change from one surface to another.

And grass really changes those dynamics…
Even though clay and hard court are different, the type of movement and stopping are similar, although there are some changes. But on grass everything changes even more. Carlos isn’t a player who slides on grass, for example, so all those types of small changes are very difficult. It’s very demanding on the muscles and joints, in fact for the entire physiology required by an athlete’s body.

Just as it’s difficult for him, it’s also a challenge for his team. Often we feel like we don’t have the time we’d like to have to be able to prepare for this surface and avoid injuries.

<a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carl ... ew'>Carlos Alcaraz</a>, Juanjo Moreno
Alcaraz and Moreno at Wimbledon. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

Were you surprised at what you achieved?
If we weren’t surprised, we wouldn’t be human. As Carlos Alcaraz’s team, captained by Juan Carlos Ferrero, our targets and goals couldn’t be bigger. When we prepare Carlos for any competition it is for him to win. As a team there is no other goal in our head that is not winning the tournament we are entering. Also avoiding injuries, if possible, which is the biggest concern for the technical staff, being aware that achieving sporting results or performances can often come at the cost of caring for the body. But that’s high-performance sport and we accept the challenge.

To us it’s surprising from a certain point of view, but from another the result achieved by Carlos was also to be expected. We prepare to win every competition we enter, therefore we try to choose carefully which ones we go to. If we managed to win Queen’s and Wimbledon with such a short period of adaptation to the surface, of course it’s surprising. Surprising from the point of view of a huge historic achievement, but not because we weren’t expecting it. Really, we were expecting to win it and that’s what we work for every day.

In Paris he suffered from cramps. In London he lasted until the end. Carlos attributes that to his mind.
Together with his manager Albert Molina and Ferrero, we’re the people who spend the longest at his side. I’m available to him 24/7, 365 days a year. We know him very well and we know that all the physical work was done. We were aware that he was ready on a nutritional level, with all the necessary minerals and salts. When you get a bout of cramp like the one that happened to him, there are people that think maybe the formula wasn’t right. But we weren’t worried at all from a physiological point of view.

Then, the psychological side is very important. I can prepare Carlos any salt supplement or a similar drink to prevent cramps, but it’s difficult to get inside his mind.

In his press conference he explained very well the reason those cramps happened, pointing to more of a mental issue than a physical one. It’s always extrapolated into different fields, but in this case the most significant factor was psychological. Carlos is a sportsman who learns very quickly from what has happened. When the match finished he also asked questions about why it happened and we talked about it as a team. He is told what the reason is, he understands perfectly and learns from the experience. With this information and with the work he does with his psychologist Isabel Balaguer, also a member of his team, Carlos has been able to learn and overcome the situation.

At Wimbledon there were no signs of that problem.
We knew that it was a match with similar pressure to the one at Roland Garros, or greater, because it was the final at Wimbledon. We were aware that the match would be difficult, that Djokovic wasn’t going to make things easy. As the match progressed, as one of the main people responsible for that area, I was getting a little nervous thinking that the cramps might come back. But I also trusted in Carlos’ capacity to learn. I was also calm, in part. I knew that my work was done, that Carlos had taken the same [physical and nutritional preparations] as he took at Roland Garros and I was confident things would go well. If he had learned from what happened in Paris, as he demonstrated, those cramps wouldn’t happen.

At Roland Garros those cramps came around two hours into the match. At Wimbledon he played for almost five hours and the cramps didn’t appear. That shows that Carlos is an athlete who learns very quickly from his experiences. Roland Garros is a very important tournament for him and it demands a little more of him than other tournaments, knowing that you’re playing the best of five sets. He overcame that challenge at Wimbledon and, as he said, the origin of that situation was more his nervous system than physiological and the data proves it. He won Wimbledon, he held on to No. 1 and he did it based on the experience he had at Roland Garros with Djokovic.

One of our team’s mantras is that there is no defeat without learnings. Carlos is one of the best at that.

<a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carl ... ew'>Carlos Alcaraz</a>, Jaunjo Moreno
Alcaraz hugs Moreno after winning the Wimbledon title. Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images.

Djokovic stated that he had never competed against a player like him. And he underlined his longevity.
It is special to hear such amazing words from a sportsman like Novak Djokovic, a legend of tennis. His opinion is very respectable and I’m proud that he would say something like that about my athlete.

But in terms of longevity, it’s very complicated. Tennis is a very physically demanding discipline; it’s unusual for a tennis player not to go through injuries. There’s little time to adapt, the calendar is demanding and you never know in terms of planning how long a match will last. I can do calculations but it’s impossible to know until the match is over. At a Grand Slam you can play everything in less than three hours, but then you can actually end up playing for over five hours.

In that regard it’s a very demanding sport, along with other realities like the type of balls. Some are very hard, you have to take into account the material they’re made from... There are many risk factors, as we physios and fitness coaches would say. There are too many variables for picking up an injury to be able to calculate a sportsman’s longevity.

In athletics, probably, the track will always be the same over the next decade. But in tennis over the next 10 years the surface will require us to compete on grass, clay and hard courts every season. There will be ball changes, different atmospheric and meteorological conditions... The range of factors is too wide to make a prediction like that of Djokovic.

I would love for all the work we do with Carlos to give us a sportsman with a long career. We’re working hard to take care of his body and prolong his sporting life as long as possible.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/alcaraz ... ledon-2023

[Damian]

Greckie media informują, że Philippoussis będzie ponownie współpracował ze Stefanosem. Nie mniej jakby ktoś miał problem z tłumaczeniem już wyjaśniam, że będzie to wyglądało na innych warunkach niż poprzednio. Otóż powstał pomysł, by Grek miał tylko jednego trenera na turniejach poza US Open, tzn. w formie rotacji pomiędzy Markiem i Apostolosem, który ma wrócić do syna dopiero w Nowym Jorku.

https://www.sdna.gr/tenis/1107175_nea-a ... -tsitsipas

[DUN I LOVE]

Czas najwyższy zacząć odcinać pępowinę od starego.

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