Marcus Willis

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Marcus Willis

emmsie69 · ATP level

Coup Droit wrote:
From Matt Smith (tennis coach)

Matt Smith
@smithy_red
·
2h
It was a real privilege to be a small part of this man's journey.

A stand up guy in every way, I'm looking forward to working together again in a different arena.

Unfortunately another in a long list of severely mismanaged talent in Britain.

I'm a bit tired of al the blame for these players lack of progress falling on the LTA. I'm pretty sure they don't have to go with an LTA coach, but it seems it's comfortable and maybe its' the desire to take the easy route with the LTA that shows the lack of drive and ambition that it takes to get to the stop. Clearly Sturat Parker is going his own way, Harriet went off to Turkey I think. Is the LTA perfect, of course not but a driven player will do what's best for their career not whats most comfortable for them.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

emmsie69 wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
From Matt Smith (tennis coach)

Matt Smith
@smithy_red
·
2h
It was a real privilege to be a small part of this man's journey.

A stand up guy in every way, I'm looking forward to working together again in a different arena.

Unfortunately another in a long list of severely mismanaged talent in Britain.
I'm a bit tired of al the blame for these players lack of progress falling on the LTA. I'm pretty sure they don't have to go with an LTA coach, but it seems it's comfortable and maybe its' the desire to take the easy route with the LTA that shows the lack of drive and ambition that it takes to get to the stop. Clearly Sturat Parker is going his own way, Harriet went off to Turkey I think. Is the LTA perfect, of course not but a driven player will do what's best for their career not whats most comfortable for them.

That's my point - a highly driven player, with good financial support behind him/her (and talent) will do well, yes.

But in this case, what is the LTA there for????

(Stuart can do it himself because his family has means and the French system lays on a structure where it's possible).

The LTA (and any federation) is there to mentor the young players and get the best out of them, ESPECIALLY the ones who do not find the early years quite so obvious.

Take Tsonga, or any number of young players in France who were not model, driven, perfect kids at age 20.

indiana · Tennis legend

Indeed, it isn't great when pretty much the only top male player who has in the last half dozen or so years successfully come through the LTA system and was not lost is Kyle, much less difficult to deal with and a guy to quote Oakland "who really wanted it". So it would have been going some to lose/muck up him!

And that's when they seem to spend so much energy trying to protect/not lose their chosen groups as against reaching out and searching for later developing talent.

-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 6th of March 2021 09:39:25 AM

christ · Futures qualifying

Taking Mr Evans as the example, a player is only going to reach is potential when the player decides to. The LTA can provide the environment and the facilities, but they can't decide what the player will and won't do, and how hard the player will work.

When the LTA tries to behave like a stern parent, handing out tough love (the Broady's spring to mind), the player's families went ape, and the LTA came in for nothing but pot-loads of criticism.

All the LTA can do is provide the structure and the environment, they can't provide the attitude. (Or the health, although the structure and the environment can go some way)

I'm not sure that there is any structure or environment on the planet that could have pushed Mr Willis to achieve "his potential".

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I take your point but the LTA don't provide the right structure or environment, to allow kids to grow up, and be part of the process, and find their way.
(Oli Golding and that whole debacle about not letting them all play Wimbledon, changing their coaches, etc etc. It didn't work out, that's for sure).
And they certainly can do a lot to help the attitude, and mentor it. In fact, that's part of their job. Obviously, some players are easier than others. But, as Indy and I said before, if you're only expecting them to succeed with the ones who are already 90% sorted in that regard, then what's the point?
And I don't necessarily agree about Marcus. As said, there are plenty of French kids who were nightmares as 20 year olds but are still around now and have done very well.

christ · Futures qualifying

Don't misunderstand me: I think the Mr Willis has done very well in the game of life, he simply didn't achieve "his tennis potential" as far as us onlookers are concerned. If I were him I would probably be happier with the life he has than the life of a perennially peripatetic top-100 tennis player. I am reminded of the famous "where did it all go wrong George" joke.

I don't know if the LTA structure is right or not, but I do know that the head is more important than physical ability if a player is to parlay that ability into making it to the highest echelons, and I am not convinced that the head can be (wholly) taught.

As I noted with Mr Evans, it seems that about four years ago a switch was flicked, and he actually started to string together results that matched his talent: finding the means to flick that switch has almost nothing to do with tennis. In my view.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Great podcast with Marcus and Soto tennis.

Lovely story that I have never heard before about the Berankis match and how Fed was watching in the locker room and predicted that Marcus would win because Berankis could ope with the slice into his forehand. (Story starts at 52 mins 40 secs)

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/control-the-controllables/id1511047964

Mark1968 · Intermediate Club Player

I agree that the LTA have a lot to answer for, other players such as Andy Murray who blamed them for "ruining" his brother as a tennis player have criticised them and now they are hiding behind the Covid hoax to not put on any futures events. The British Tour is all well and good but events with world ranking points are the only ones that really matter. I wonder how many loafers at the LTA are sitting on their backsides taking huge salaries at the moment while players struggle.

However regarding Marcus he was his own worse enemy. Turning up at a tournament without his rackets, being out of shape for some of his career etc, I could go on. Over the years he had plenty of sponsorship and LTA funding and took part in hundreds of tournaments. The man, who more or less by his own admission did not even have a forehand, was nowhere near as good as some of you think and his career reflects this.

Some need to face reality, we live in an excuse culture in the UK, it was down to Marcus that he did not do better, he just wasn't good enough, not everybody is good enough to be a top 100 player, that is reality.

I wish him all the best moving forward and if he does get into coaching you might see him in the odd doubles occasionally like Morgan Phillips.

christ · Futures qualifying

Mark1968 wrote:
... the Covid hoax ...

Interesting. What hoax was this?

Oakland2002 · All-time great

christ wrote:
Mark1968 wrote:
... the Covid hoax ...
Interesting. What hoax was this?

The one that means you just ignore the rest of the post and probably all future ones and move on. Nothing to discuss here.

Mark1968 · Intermediate Club Player

Oakland2002 wrote:
christ wrote:
Mark1968 wrote:
... the Covid hoax ...
Interesting. What hoax was this?
The one that means you just ignore the rest of the post and probably all future ones and move on. Nothing to discuss here.

When I read something like this, the expression "It is easier to fool someone than convince them they have been fooled", comes to mind.

Madadman · Top national player

I notice that Marcus has also been playing some touch tennis and won a tournament in Spain last weekend.
www.touchtennis.com/gb/marcus-willis-512.php

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Madadman wrote:
I notice that Marcus has also been playing some touch tennis and won a tournament in Spain last weekend.
www.touchtennis.com/gb/marcus-willis-512.php

Billiant link, Madadman - thanks - made me laugh biggrin

Priesty · Challenger level

Interesting feature about Marcus and his comeback in doubles on the ATP tour website -

www.atptour.com/en/news/marcus-willis-march-2023-feature