Off court coaching

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Off court coaching

wolf · Tennis legend

I think it's absolutely terrible. I get that it's hard to police illegal coaching in the past, but tennis should be 1 vs 1 and only 2 vs 2 in doubles.

Var · Pro player

wolf wrote:
I think it's absolutely terrible. I get that it's hard to police illegal coaching in the past, but tennis should be 1 vs 1 and only 2 vs 2 in doubles
.

I dont like it either wolf. It could be really disrupting for the player not getting the coaching trying to stay in the zone. I get it in football as you are strategising a team but one on one sport, no.

indiana · Tennis legend

Hmm. "We've gathered feedback from all key stakeholders including players, coaches and chair umpires."

I wonder what weight was given to the opinions of the different "stakeholders".

"Players felt it was a positive development ..." - how many out of how many at various levels? "... and makes tournaments more interesting for them" - yes, I can imagine simply going out there trying to win tennis matches can be a right bore at times!?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Hmm. "We've gathered feedback from all key stakeholders including players, coaches and chair umpires."
I wonder what weight was given to the opinions of the different "stakeholders".
"Players felt it was a positive development ..." - how many out of how many at various levels? "... and makes tournaments more interesting for them" - yes, I can imagine simply going out there trying to win tennis matches can be a right bore at times!?

Head of ITF - "so, who'd you speak to?"

Consultant - "Novak and Carlos and a quick chat with Jannick. It was nice, they had their coaches with them"

Head of ITF - "and what did they all think"

Consultant - "coaches loved it and players said lets get it sorted asap"

Head of ITF - "cool, anyone else?"

Consultant - "nah, couldnt get Survey Monkey working properly and with most of the players ranked below 300 not having a coach, we didnt think it was worth bothering them"

Head of ITF - "ok, lets crack on then, make an announcement through our PR guys and on socials, job's a good un"

Jan · Hall of fame

I'm not a fan of it.

Lambda · Challenger level

I'm fairly ambivalent to it in practice, but have concerns over the financial implications. But I speak as someone who has barely played the sport and due to chronic pain and diabolical hand-eye co-ordination is never likely to play.

Its only formalising what is already happening. The WTA have had off-court coaching since covid and on-court coaching before that. The ATP and Grand Slams have had for at least a couple of years and the ITF have been trialling it this year in their pro-events. Outside of the pro-game, well, I don't really care and organisers are allowed to set their own rules on coaching anyway.

My concern would be the financial consequences. If it means that players feel pressured into travelling with a coach when they wouldn't have otherwise as their opposition may be benefiting from coaching and subsequently causing them increased financial hardship then I'm against that. If the consequences are that it creates a further barrier to entry for those with lower socio-economic backgrounds and means those with money who can afford to have a coach travel are more likely to succeed then I am opposed to that.