Laura's new coach - potential candidates

korriban · Challenger level

RE: Laura's new coach - potential candidates

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I am expecting a big name appointment for Laura this time around - she will have the budget to afford a high profile coach and she knows this is a key time in her career. And by the looks of it by the end of the week every big name coach who is potentially available will have been linked with Laura.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, I was thinking that too, Tony.

Miles seemed a quite quick choice and maybe relative stopgap. But it looks like just at this moment there are quite a few big, largely suitable looking choices available, and I imagine that getting the best out of Laura would be an interesting and potentially very fulfilling challenge.

korriban · Challenger level

1. Another apology. Coach Krajan in fact did launch a broadside at Ms Jankovic after their 2 month partnership was brought to an end - basically saying that she had point blank refused to adopt the tactics he had set out for her - so it's not just Laura who got the verbals. Furthermore he did have his contract terminated by Safina, albeit after a very successful 3 years, and she went into freefall after that with subsequent coaching set ups, first mentally, then physically. Look I'm not a fan of Krajan's or anything, but there's nobody who says he's a bad coach, it's just his relentless, perhaps even joyless approach to coaching which seems to undo all the good work. You certainly can't deny his spells with Safina, Jankovic and Robson all delivered immediate improvements in results. And I'm sure the players would accept this too.

2. There has been talk of a female coach, perhaps even a Lisa Raymond. I got the distinct impression from looking at their respective body language in matches and from interviews at the time that, even at 40 years old, Lisa took her doubles (perhaps even her tennis) a lot more seriously than Laura and once again after a great start to the partnership, things went downhill quite quickly - there is no talk of reforming, even though I believe Raymond still wants to play serious doubles. It wasn't helped by injuries and illness from Laura getting in the way, but I sensed that Lisa Raymond was looking for a serious and committed medium term partner, thought she had found one, but then took a rain check.

3. Hogstedt for me. But as a number of people have pointed out the fitness and mobility coaching set-up will be just as important, if not considerably more important to Laura's success going forward than technical and tactical advice. And neither will matter a jot unless Laura commits to being 100% committed on and off the court to her objective to be the best player in world, or at least the best player she can possibly be. What Andy does behind the scenes is not for everyone......but with considerably less physical and athletic attributes to start with, anything less from Laura, one feels, simply won't get the job done.

korriban · Challenger level

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/24564244

Alan Jones' comments - precisely!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Good article !
(I tend to stay out of the Laura debate but it was good to read an informative and slightly provocative article, unlike a lot of the waffle one gets)

philwrig · Hall of fame

korriban wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/24564244
Alan Jones' comments - precisely!

The problem with these articles and I'm not trying to defend Laura, is that Mr Jones was not at the coalface during this period. How does he know that she wasn't 24/7 trying to improve parts of her game such as her footwork. Her footwork improved dramatically during last Summer, I would be more interested to hear direct from the horse's mouth, what has happened this year in regards that area.

steven · Tennis legend

korriban wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/24564244
Alan Jones' comments - precisely!

Had me wondering if you're Alan in disguise wink

korriban · Challenger level

philwrig wrote:
korriban wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/24564244
Alan Jones' comments - precisely!
The problem with these articles and I'm not trying to defend Laura, is that Mr Jones was not at the coalface during this period. How does he know that she wasn't 24/7 trying to improve parts of her game such as her footwork. Her footwork improved dramatically during last Summer, I would be more interested to hear direct from the horse's mouth, what has happened this year in regards that area.

There now suddenly seem to be a lot of people whose job it is to write about elite tennis (and network widely in tennis circles), as well as coaches who like to be quoted and who have gravitas, like Alan Jones, who feel confident enough in what they see from Laura in matches and what they hear from those behind the scenes who actually know the truth, that Ms Robson may not be the hardest worker in GB tennis. Heather Watson is NEVER discussed in this way or described in this way, if anything it's the complete opposite. This doesn't just come from nowhere. Players don't get reputations for being hard workers/trainers or perhaps less committed workers/trainers without some basis for it............

philwrig · Hall of fame

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, and I've seen evidence of both with my own eyes, and had conversations which would also concur with that. I just think her training levels are up and down, when they're up she trains harder than Hev, but when they're down the opposite would probably be the case.
Certainly if she wants to maximise her talent, she will need to keep the foot down 100% of the time. But to say she doesn't train very hard is just wrong.

PaulM · Tennis legend

I'm sorry but Alan Jones ceased to have any gravitas a long time ago. He has no more idea what is going on behind the scenes with Laura than you or I.

I'd take anything he says with a very large pinch of salt. I'm a bit surprised as there hasn't been an article about him discovering the next big superstar who has been overlooked by the LTA for about 6 months.

There is a reason the likes of Anne and Bally achieved far greater things after they left his set-up.

Hogstedt for me is the best option. I can't see anyone within the Adidas Group (Sven or Darren Cahill who has done some excellent work with Cirstea as part of that team) breaking out to coach an individual player.

LordBrownof · Futures level

I'd like to see Laura employ Hogstedt and Heather take on Nigel Sears full time.

steven · Tennis legend

I'd like to see Martina Navratilova work with Laura, though I'm not sure she would!

I know it sounds a bit out there, but she did one stint on 5Live commentary during the US Open and was extremely insightful, fair-minded and good at knowing when to keep quiet (quite a few commentators and summarisers seem to find it tough to manage any one of those things, let alone all three!) but she also said she would be open to coaching a top player - not taking on someone from scratch but working with someone who was nearly there and getting them over the last few hurdles, a bit like Lendl has done with Andy.

Obviously she has no more coaching credentials than Lendl and it would be crazy to base a decision on how good a radio summariser she was, but it's not technical help with her shots that Laura needs the most. You don't have to take a view on how hard Laura does or doesn't work at the moment to be able to imagine what a fantastic influence Martina would be. She is also a fellow left-handed female player, so if anyone knows how to maximise the advantages of being a powerful left-handed shot-maker, she would be the one!

Most of all, perhaps, who knows how much Laura has respected her coaches in the past (maybe a lot, who knows) but with Martina (again, much like Andy with Ivan), there would surely be no question of her thinking she didn't know what she was doing as far as all the intangible stuff needed to become a top player is concerned.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

steven wrote:
I'd like to see Martina Navratilova work with Laura, though I'm not sure she would!

I know it sounds a bit out there, but she did one stint on 5Live commentary during the US Open and was extremely insightful, fair-minded and good at knowing when to keep quiet (quite a few commentators and summarisers seem to find it tough to manage any one of those things, let alone all three!) but she also said she would be open to coaching a top player - not taking on someone from scratch but working with someone who was nearly there and getting them over the last few hurdles, a bit like Lendl has done with Andy.

Obviously she has no more coaching credentials than Lendl and it would be crazy to base a decision on how good a radio summariser she was, but it's not technical help with her shots that Laura needs the most. You don't have to take a view on how hard Laura does or doesn't work at the moment to be able to imagine what a fantastic influence Martina would be. She is also a fellow left-handed female player, so if anyone knows how to maximise the advantages of being a powerful left-handed shot-maker, she would be the one!

Most of all, perhaps, who knows how much Laura has respected her coaches in the past (maybe a lot, who knows) but with Martina (again, much like Andy with Ivan), there would surely be no question of her thinking she didn't know what she was doing as far as all the intangible stuff needed to become a top player is concerned.

That would certainly be an exciting appointment to say the least! However, unlike Andy Laura needs a coach who will be with her at every tournament, and I can see Navratilova favouring a role like Ivan Lendl where she doesn't have to be there every week.

I don't think Laura can go far wrong with Thomas Hogstedt. Though there are plenty of differing views on Laura in this thread, the consistent theme is that he would be a great coach for her - combining a hard work ethic with a calm temperament.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Hogstedt in improving Sharapova, probably had his greatest impact on her footwork/movement. So that has to be a big plus ( Korriban should like that part ). For me, if he wants the job, he should get it. He is the best candidate from purely a coaching point of view.

Martina in 3 years time, when Laura has lost her first 3 grand slam finals, could then takeover ;)