Bollettieri, the tenacious trainer who developed tennis stars

• Nick Bollettieri, a well-known tennis instructor who shaped stars like Andre Agassi and Monica Seles, passed away on Monday at the age of 91.
• Even though his tactics were somewhat debatable, his Florida academy consistently produced excellent athletes
• His Bradenton complex saw the likes of Agassi, Maria Sharapova, Seles, Jim Courier, Anna Kournikova, and Mary Pierce

Venus, Serena, and Boris Williams were all given advice by Bollettieri.

The rigorous schedule for young people living and learning at his institution yielded rewards but also attracted criticism. Eventually, his relationship with several of his accomplished proteges, such as Agassi and Seles, soured.

Agassi stated, “I detested being at Bollettieri’s academy. “Success was the only way I could escape.”

Bollettieri, however, didn’t change his attitude. “I took the necessary action. Tennis is not a game for choirboys, according to Bollettieri.

Bollettieri was born on July 31, 1931, in Pelham, a suburb of New York. At a small Catholic university in Alabama, where he studied philosophy, he claimed to have begun playing tennis on a daily basis.

Bollettieri began studying law in Miami after serving in the US Army in Korea, but he soon left to work as a tennis instructor.

At one of his stops, in Wisconsin, he worked with a young Brian Gottfried, who later rose to become the third-ranked player in the world in 1977. This helped Bollettieri gain some recognition.

As his first residential pupil, Carling Bassett, who turned 11 that year, he established his own tennis academy in Florida in 1978. He gave his players tough labour.

Bollettieri was the subject of an article in Sports Illustrated in 1980 with the headline, “He’ll Make Your Child A Champ, But It Won’t Be Much Fun.”

Bollettieri was a proponent of repetition. He claimed that in order to alter a shot, one must practise it 30,000 times. The rate, or union minimum, is that.

Bollettieri also stated that he developed character through “knowing the people.”

“I’m most proud of how these lads developed into men; they not only became excellent tennis players, but much better individuals. Look at what they’ve accomplished, he said to Tennis.com.

The children were kept active by combining more than four hours of training with school, five days a week with half days on Saturday. They were not permitted to consume alcohol, smoke, chew gum, curse, or make public shows of affection.

His approach worked for some people while failing others.

He was a well-known instructor by the 1990s, and he could be seen at all the major competitions with his distinctive sunglasses and worn, tanned face.

“I am the world’s top coach. In a 1994 book, he bragged, “I am certain of it.

The Tennis Hall of Fame stated upon his induction in 2014 that he loved to refer to himself as the “Michelangelo of Tennis.”

Bollettieri was aware that he needed to develop elite athletes in order to market his company, but that plan came to a stop when he sold his company to the sports talent agency IMG.

As he said to Tennis World, “I went after the greatest kids in both the US and abroad and awarded them all scholarships because it was those players that attracted the paying consumers.”

The only issue was that I awarded so many scholarships that the company ran out of money; as a result, I sold the institution in 1987.

He kept mentoring, and his methods kept producing talent.

A shot of Bollettieri’s “Young Bucks” Martin Blackman, Courier, David Wheaton, and Agassi from 1989 is featured on his Twitter page.

He told Tennis Now, “God provided me with the capacity to read people.

“At one time, Seles would practise for two to three months in order to perfect a single shot. On the court, Courier was like a workhorse, and at night, he would play the drums. We had Agassi, with whom I was lucky if I got to work for 10 minutes each day.

“I believe that the game’s instruction is quite straightforward, but understanding the people and their reactions is crucial.”

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