Week 35 - ITF ($15K) - Ricany, Czech Rep - Clay

Etienne · Club Coach

Week 35 - ITF ($15K) - Ricany, Czech Rep - Clay

Strongbow · All-time great

the addict wrote:
Mirabelle grew up and started her tennis in the UK until her family moved to France in her early teens. I believe she has had plenty of coaching there, indeed I bumped into them a few years after they had moved and they said how much they preferred French system and how happy they were with her coaching situation. I agree with those posters who say it is 'relatively' easy to get to 600-ish WTA. Play enough tournaments and pick up a full quota of 1s and 2s and bingo! Mirabelle would be one of many, though, to struggle to maintain that position in their 2nd and subsequent years. Players on that level of the circuit get to know your game, particularly if you play in only a few venues, so the matches are harder to win. The enthusiasm and self-belief generated by seeing your ranking rise with every win in the first year gradually dissipates as you are having to work harder and harder just to stand still. I suspect with the number of losses she has had that Mirabelle believes less and less in her ability to win and that's a difficult situation to overcome. Indeed as a junior, her outstanding weapon was absolute self-belief so this string of losses must hit her hard. But I guess like many she's just hoping that one lucky break will turn it all around.
Regarding the suggestion that the LTA needs to offer coaching to those starting out, I'm not sure that's the answer but it does touch on an issue a number of (usually female) players have mentioned to me over the past couple of years; once you leave the juniors, unless you are an LTA pick there is no supporting structure at all. Academies usually require a large upfront payment per term or year which is unaffordable for many as they are planning to be travelling and competing for large periods of time (and the academies are really geared to juniors anyway). Coaches otherwise charge by the hour (usually plus court fee), and that is not what the players really want either - coaches often unavailable and again expensive if you want a good couple of weeks training block. They really want somewhere not too far from their home base with players of a similar standard, be they good juniors, strong amateur men or other tour players, that they can drill with and play practice sets etc with occasional access to a coach for technical problems. There are also often similar issues with physical training as well - gyms requiring year-long memberships (although there are some new boys on the block changing the rules in this area) etc etc. As it stands at the moment, the young women are just playing tournaments with very few facilities available to move their game on.

Agree with most of THe Addict says, Not suggestimg that the LTA should offer coaching to all starting out - just specialised coaching when girls get to 600-650 (2 pts per event) or 350 (6 pts per event). At present, once the schools and colleges go back we will be struggling to find 25 ranked players.

Edited for context.

-- Edited by Strongbow on Monday 28th of August 2017 09:44:56 PM

the addict · Tennis legend

That was The Optimist, not me, not certain how my name got in that post !

Strongbow · All-time great

the addict wrote:
That was The Optimist, not me, not certain how my name got in that post !

Yours was the post immediately preceeding The O - Somehow "Quote" picked it up or I inadvertently did some clever typing - Apologies for taking your name in vain.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Mirabelle+ got a win in the doubles, 7-5 6-4

Oakland2002 · All-time great

I think it is a question of being realistic about what you want from tennis and what you are likely to get, every player and the family who are likely to support them can do what they like but by the time you are 18 particularly on the girls side it is pretty clear how much you may make or not playing tennis for a living.

We are not generally talking about the top two or three nationally it is generally the group behind that or maybe well behind that. There are some great opportunities out there would one consider Mirabelle a better prospect than Yasmine Akhtar, Olivia Nicholls or Maia Lumsden. All have accessed the type of coaching you describe. Surely this where the college route pays dividends you get an education and an opportunity to pursue the dream a little longer but walk away from it with something t

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Etienne wrote:
Sounds like a National Tennis Centre.

No, that's not what they are after at all. It is, as CD suggests, something comparable to that which is available in France - a healthy adult tennis circuit. A couple of the girls told me they had investigated attaching themselves to a large club in France or Germany - generally free membership in exchange for turning out for club matches and plenty of good standard people to play with alongside a well-supported domestic competition structure. The fly in the ointment which stopped them doing so was the cost of accommodation being based away from home - as we all know, money is tight starting out. These girls aren't necessarily no-hopers (although some clearly just as well might be) but include those who have been beavering away out of the limelight (some at college others not) and who, without troubling the very top, could still make a career of it. The point is that there is NO meaningful adult tennis structure in the UK compared with Spain, France or Germany say. Lots of recreational dubs, a few local low level singles leagues, some good quality AEGON matches in the national league (the one A1 Pharmaceuticals is in), poorly supported British Tours (overall). For example, I saw two blokes recently playing a set at a tennis centre (membership not required). They were outstanding. I asked them what their background was. Both French, one had played pro for a short while, the other had been involved in pro coaching but now in non-tennis jobs. They hadn't played for over a year as they had not found any suitable tennis over here but had bumped into each other recently and decided to have a hit. Had they still been based in France they reckon they'd have been playing (just for fun) every couple of weeks or so.

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

Sobering stuff.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, for all we may sometimes moan about the lack of players coming through it is such a difficult tennis infrastructure in many ways in the UK to help lower ranked / unranked aspiring players progress their games.

And on top of that so relatively poor club and league infrastructure, the ruddy LTA rather than help compensate for that exacerbates it by putting on so few pro tournaments, particularly 15Ks. But then I guess they maybe see them as nowhere near top 100 or even 200 potential so **** them.

And another young potentially very good tennis players looks at it all and says not for me, and goes off and plays another sport.

Yes, of course all young players dream of being one of these that truly makes it, but particularly if talented in other sports they and their families have to consider what if they don't turn out to be one of the very best but relatively still pretty good, what sort of life is there then for a British tennis player, say any sort of idea of maintaining ( whisper it ) a pyramid and/or how does it appear such players do financially.

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 30th of August 2017 04:28:57 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Mirabelle and partner are through to the semis, winning their QF 6-4 6-1

Etienne · Club Coach

The Optimist, I was being a bit tongue in cheek.

But I don't see how the UK can develop a thriving club scene like the French do. It's too expensive to build enough inside, and the climate isn't good enough to build them outside (and that's pretty expensive too). There's basically no sport that I can think of in the UK where there is enough facilities because land in major cities is more valuable as housing.

If the NTC money had been spent on 7 or 8 regional centres of excellence, then I think that a lot of the benefits that the French club scene offers to those players just short of elite standard. It wouldn't manage to replicate those benefits to those further down the line unfortunately, but I'm not sure what can be done there.

They could also be used to host Futures tournaments.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Close but Mirabelle+ lose their doubles semi-final: 6-2 1-6 10-6