Many thanks for your post. Really good to hear about your philosophy of education and care for players - sounds good! And lovely to hear from someone who's directly responsible for implementing a policy that we're discussing - thank you for sharing your insights.

And congratulations on the progress your players are making.

SotoTennis wrote:

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I came on here to see if anyone had any updates on the boys (as mark Hilton is with JWH-Fitzy and Liam this week) and very interested to read everyones thoughts. Thank you also for the free advertising of the Academy!

i can't speak for other Academies and I am certainly not saying we are trying to reinvent the wheel with what we are setting up for the players at the Academy, but hopefully this will give you a little insight into our thought processes..

Number 1 objective at the Academy : Player Welfare. Every decision we make has the players best interest at the heart of the decision. Is telling a load of 12-15 year olds to leave school early to pursue an almost impossible job of making top 50 in the world fair on them? 99/100 i would say No. I hope a young Andy Murray walks through the door though! (even so, i feel it is important that he/she would keep up some form of education- see why below)

Our players have 2 choices of education, One through the International school which is a 'physical' school- this works well for the younger players as the school are amazing sat understanding the demands of International Tennis, so time off and online learning is fully supported while 'on the road'. the second option which has worked for the older players well is seeing a team of tutors 2 hours a day.. This allows for as much tennis/physical/mental training that a player needs throughout the day.

My thought on this, a player in some form of education is

1. More disciplined- time management
2. Does not have the 24 hour a day tennis tennis tennis which the majority of individuals can't handle at a young age.
3. Gives the player options in this life

In my experience a player who continues to educate themselves (even beyond 18 whether it be a language or learning to play a guitar) is a better player to work with. Look at Federer he speaks 5 languages- this is education. Serena Williams is highly educated int he world of fashion. lets not be naive and only look at education in the classical sense of 8 hours in the classroom.

Few of my thoughts..

Enjoyed reading everyones opinions on this subject and certainly not saying we have it 100% right or different to others who are doing what they can for their players..

Dan Kiernan

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Finally got around to reading all the education-related posts on this thread. I think whether or not it is a good idea to go the uni route if you want to make it to very top of the game is arguable and is almost totally dependent on the player. The fact that players are peaking later makes it more of an option these days, but those with realistic hopes of making it to the top are probably best not to go that route and it is not as if it is impossible (or even difficult) to go to uni and be very successful there after finishing a playing career, a bit like Mario Ancic, for example. That said, if finance is the main issue and a player wants to go to uni on a tennis scholarship, then they probably do need to do it at the start of their careers.

While there are arguments for an against the (pre-career) uni route, giving up school before 18 (let alone being encouraged to give up by adults who should know better) is a completely different matter - that is surely barmy, because stopping school early really does limit your options later on and must put almost intolerable pressure on young players to succeed, to the point where that pressure starts to become counter-productive.

Everything I have read and heard about Soto suggests that they and other academies like them are getting it right and are likely to produce players who can cope well in the tennis world and with life after tennis and I really admire what they are trying to achieve.

The other thing about tennis players is that however hard they train, there is bound to be lots of downtime - e.g. while waiting for matches, resting in between training sessions, travelling between venues, etc, and simply because there is a limit to the amount of physical activity they can do each day. Everyone needs some downtime doing mindless stuff, obviously, but there must be enough time for them to train, play, 'chill out' and keep their brains active too. Learning languages (easy enough to do on your own and, you would have thought, a huge incentive when you are travelling all the time to countries where there is the opportunity to practice what you have learnt) is one obvious example, taking things like correspondence courses to back up a later application to university, a possible career after tennis or just to follow an interest are others.

As you note, Jeff, I was quoting rather than sharing (thank you, though, CD, for your gracious, if unwarranted, thanks!) Did quote in full as it appeared that the comment, coming at the end of the "great education debate" and just before the scores, might get "lost" - and was far too interesting and helpful to disappear.

Been a good thread, this. And lovely that we have further matches from the various players still to come.

You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Bob - the Oganesyan/Hauser LL thing was confusing. I was expecting Oganesyan then saw Hauser on livescores and on the ITF version of the main draw. A quick look at the Q draw revealed that Oganesyan retired in the FQR and it was only then that it seemed pretty obvious that he hadn't recovered from whatever made him retired and had given way to Hauser rather than the other way round.

Anyway, a full round-up all in one post:

L32: (4) Andrew Fitzpatrick WR 610 lost to Matias Sborowitz (CHI) WR 872 by 6-4 4-6 6-4
L32: Josh Ward Hibbert WR 863 beat (Q) Bernd Kossler (AUT) UNR by 4 & 2
L32: (Q) Scott Clayton WR 1947 lost to Marco Crugnola (ITA) WR 714 by 4 & 1
L32: Liam Broady WR 926 beat (WC) Besir Durguti (MKD) UNR by 1 & 4
L32: Toby Martin WR 1054 beat (LL) Jens Hauser (SUI) WR 1341 by 4 & 0

L16: Josh Ward Hibbert WR 863 v (1) Mohamed Safwat (EGY) WR 327 - won 2 EGY Futures last month before going on DC duty
L16: Liam Broady WR 926 v (6) Riccardo Sinicropi (ITA) WR 611 (CH 445 in 2012)
L16: Toby Martin WR 1054 v (5) Sam Weissborn (AUT) WR 625 (CH 595 earlier this month)

-- Edited by steven on Wednesday 22nd of May 2013 12:10:16 PM

Make that 4-1* for Scott.

Toby Martin is also 4-1* up on Hauser

First set Crugnola v Scott 6-4

First set Toby v Hauser 6-4