An increasing amount of data is becoming available within tennis. As coaches we need to navigate through the jungle of  information. How do we interpret the data? What stats are true, but not relevant? and ultimately how can stats help player development, scouting of opponents as well as inform us about winning patterns of play?

Mike James helps us do exactly that. He is a strategy analyst, which means that he interprets data combined with video of matches to help players and their teams with game development, scouting reports and preseason content based on the previous years matches.

In this interview Mike explains how Djokovic is fooling us, how the best players in the world have a BELOW 50 winning percentage from the baseline and helps us understand how data can inform us about what to do on the practice court

You’ll get to know:

• How Djokovic is fooling us
• The surprising winning percentage from the baseline
• How to change the practice court

Enjoy the show!

Timestamps
01:40 The 3 ways Mike uses video
06:15 The first 4 shots
07:24 The misinterpretation of stats
07:57 What about big points?
09:12 Analyzing the servers role
11:09 Patterns of play
12:50 Key statistics
14:00 How Djokovic is fooling us
15:14 How to approach Junior development
17:38 How Height Correlate to ranking
19:12 Why data needs video
22:23 Scouting vs data on yourself
24:30 Focus on the 0-4 zone
27:15 The Practice Court is broken
29:54 How can we improve the practice court
32:12 Tennis is game of errors
34:07 Claudio Pistolesi
35:28 Favorite Books
35:52: World number 1’s at 40
37:50 Don’t crowd please
38:40 Tennis has trends
39:50 Expose yourself to different players and cultures

In this episode I’m delighted to welcome back Frank Giampaolo for his 2nd visit on the podcast. In the last episode with Frank, which was number 40, he discussed how to best be a tennis parent and support your children in their tennis journey. This time around Frank is digging even deeper into what he calls ”The soft science of tennis” which is also the title of his new book that recently got released. I had the honor of getting an early copy of the book and was so excited about the way that Frank is able to make soft skills very concrete and easy understandable that I reached out to Frank to get him back on the Podcast and elaborate on his findings and the reasoning behind the new book.

You’ll get to know:
– How to use personality profiling
– How to develop character and nurture life skills
– How to manage fear and risk

Before we dive into the interview Frank has been so kind to offer free e-books for the first 20 people who email me on contact@adamblicher.com – so don’t hesitate to reach out if you wish to secure yourself a copy of the brand new “Soft Science of tennis

Enjoy the show!

Timestamps
01:30 The computer analogy
03:40 Project oxygen
05:11 The 4 sides model
08:30 Succesfull communication
10:00 Personality profiling
11:10 Pre- and post match talks
14:00 Verbal vs nonverbal communication
14:50 Conscious and unconscious mind
19:30 Myers Briggs
22:30 Introvert vs extrovert
27:30 Sensate vs intuitive
30:30 Thinkers vs feelers
33:00 Judgers vs perceivers
39:30 Developing character
41:30 Nurturing life skills
43:00 The 168 hour rule
46:40 Managing fear and risk

Whether you are a player, coach or a parent the whole world of American College Tennis can seem overwhelming – Here is an interview with Dave Mullins who recently retired as a College Coach, but went through the process himself of figuring everything out even before the internet back in the day when he was deciding on what college to attend as an aspiring irish player. He then got so into College Tennis that he stayed after playing college himself and have coached DePaul’s Men’s team, then went onto Northwestern University’s Women’s team where he was awarded ITA National Assistant coach of the Year. At last he was named Head Coach at University of Oklahoma at the age of 28 making him the youngest coach at the BCS level at that time.

You’ll get to know:

– What questions to ask yourself
– The Academic side of College Tennis
– How to make the final Decision on College

Timestamps
01:30 Initial Questions to ask yourself on College Tennis
02:45 How do you figure out the level you qualify to play in College Tennis
04:05 The Academic side of American College Tennis
06:30 Finding the right fit in a tennis college
08:40 Official visitis
11:05 The final decision – The relation to the coach
13:30 Introductory letter + video clip
18:00 Tennis dies if it doesn’t evolve
23:30 Coaching Tennis Chuck Kriese
24:10 Learning
25:10 Meditating as mental training

Have you ever experienced your players going for a week or two to a foreign country on a fancy tennis academy and you find your player coming back with a changed grip, awkvard looking technique or what you just used month trying to build comepletely colapsed – Here is an interview with a guy who built a secondary camp and touring academy around NOT changing technique. Dave Bandelin, is a former division one coach of Texas El Paso and was awarded New coach of the year back in 1986. He then moved to Scadinavia and spent 10 years coaching in Hölviken tennis before starting EuroElite that has now got close to 200 players signed up for camps and travels every year.

You’ll get to know:

– How Dave teaches guidelines for life
– The Concepts of Euroelite
– How tennis is not always fun

Enjoy the show!

Timestamps
01:30 Why EuroElite was started
03:12 Where is EuroElite Now
07:37 The screening process
19:10 The Match paper
24:50 Taking risks
32:08 5 basic patterns of play
34:15 What Euroelite doesn’t do
37:23 The short game + fitness
43:15 Don’t get too excited
44:30 Breathing
48:32 Neutral to neutral
53:00 Freedom to older players
57:00 Curtesy and respect
62:15 Tennis isn’t always fun

Do you ever wonder how you compare to the best players in the world? Well now you can find out – thanks to Universal Tennis Rating – the UTR. Mark Leschly, Universal Tennis CEO is with me to talk about the rating that is unifying tennis worldwide. Mark combines both an in depth knowledge and experience in sports and tennis with nearly 25 years of entrepreneurial management and investment in technology led businesses as a venture capitalist and start up CEO. He is a former ATP ranked player selected to the Danish Davis Cup Team, two time Captain and #1 player for Harvard Men’s Tennis and a member of the USTA Foundation Advisory Board and USTA Player Development Council just to name a few of Mark’s achivements.

You’ll get to know:
– How UTR works
– How UTR predicted Hyeon Chungs big year
– What inefficient practices consists of

Enjoy the show

Timestamps
01:30 The story of UTR
02:10 How does UTR work
03:05 Getting a UTR
06:15 UTR predicting Hyeon Chung’s success
08:00 Pablo Careno Busto
09:10 Breaking down barriers
11:35 Opportunity for change
12:40 Learning to rely on yourself
13:40 Unify tennis.
14:15 No applicability to competition
15:45 Inefficient practice
17:10 Variety in styles
18:15 Get to know more about UTR

Today you are going to listen to Carlos Kirmayr. Carlos is a former professional player himself with a career high of #37 in singles and #6 in doubles, ATP. He has coached such renowned players as Gabriella Sabatini, Conchita Martinez, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and has been the Davis Cup Captain of his home country Brazil for several years. Further more Carlos has served at the ATP Board of Directors from 1983-1987 and today spents the majority of his time managing the Kirmayr Tennis Experience which we touch upon during the podcast.

In this episode you’ll learn:

– Why No Trust means No Opportunity
– How and why to accept craziness
– How being a tennis coach is like being a doctor

Enjoy the show!

Timestamps
01:30 Coaching Philosophy
02:25 How you “feel” a player
03:20 Orienters
04:30 No trust, no opportunity
06:15 Thoughts on technique
08:40 Biomechanical principles
10:10 The slice
11:10 Sabatini
13:06 Taking risks
15:00 Learnings from Sabatini
16:30 Sabatinis learnings
17:30 Conchita Martinez
20:05 How to use Squash as conditioning
21:05 Nicolas Pereira
23:05 Kirmayr Tennis Experience
27:00 Brazil as a culture
30:10 Federer and Nadal
33:20 How Carlos gets better
37:15 Patience
38:30 Accepting craziness
41:10 Lack of intensity and focus
43:50 Carlos’ advice

Chris Trieste (@CTrieste2), is a veteran educator with extensive experience in coaching, teaching, and educational leadership. He has been the Head Men’s Tennis Coach at Mount Saint Mary College where he was twice named Coach of the Year & the team won its first conference championship in program history. Further more Chris released a book called ”14 great coaches” last year which is also to a great extent the basis of this interview.

In this episode you’ll get to know:

– The lessons of 14 great Coaches
– How to Recognize & Reward
– How to learn from more & less experienced coaches

Enjoy the show!

This is a round 2 with Allistair McCaw which many of you have requested. Allistair barely needs another introduction on the podcast, but shortly he is a Sports Performance Specialist with more than 20 years of experience. He has trained a host of world champion athletes including Grand Slam Tennis champions, PGA Golfers and Olympians. Further more Allistair has written the book called “7 keys to being a great coach” and on this very date October the 7th his latest book “Championminded” is published world wide.

In this episode you’ll get to know:

– What Champion Minded means
– How Kevin Anderson changed his self talk
– Why you need to seek out though leaders not cheer leaders

Enjoy the show!

Timestamps
01:30 Championminded
04:00 Communication of the young generation
06:05 Average- vs champion minded
14:40 How Kevin Anderson changed his self-talk
18:20 Confident or cocky?
20:00 How to act on Social Media as a tennis player
22:40 Being comfortable being uncomfortable
24:15 Though leaders not cheerleaders
26:30 Being Championminded is a choice

Dave Miley has an incredible amount of experience within high performance in tennis having been the Owner of Record tennis for 10 years before joining the ITF for 24 years where 18 of those were as the Executive Director of Development

You’ll get to know:

– The difference between succesful an unsuccesful associations

– What professional tennis could do better

– Which contries that will rise to the top in the future

Enjoy the show!

Timestamps
01:30 3 biggest wins while serving as technical director
04:12 Why doubles is important
05:30 Why ATP/WTA is not simulating
06:45 How professional tennis could be better
09:23 The Advances Coaches Manual
11:11 What Dave would add/remove from the manual
12:11 The reasoning for Play & Stay
14:06 Greatest challenges as Technical Director
17:18 What Dave would have loved to do
22:02 Most common mistakes of National Associations
26:03 National Associations that got it right
33:45 Concerns regarding GPTCA
38:23 What Dave would like to do going forwards
43:30 How Dave would teach coaches in 3 easy steps
46:53 The countries rising to the top in the future
49:35 The Grand Slam Development Funds
52:15 The importance of the serve
53:50 How Dave gets better
58:15 The books that have inspired Dave
60:30 Your reputation is everything
61:40 Using time effectively
67:00 Dave’s advice

Jonny Fraser (@scienceintennis) has a wealth of experience in tennis having been a strength and conditioning coach for more than 7 years working with players from mini tennis to full-time professionals. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a Master Tennis Performance specialist certified by the iTPA. Further he has partnered with Claudio Pistolesi Enterprise. Academically Jonny holds a MSc in Sports and Exercise Science from Sheffield Hallam University.

You’ll get to know:

– The science behind grunting
– How to implement sports science in tennis
– Why the advice of “be on you toes” boggles his mind

Enjoy the show!

Timestamps
01:30 The Science behind grunting
05:50 Teaching tennis players how to grunt
07:50 Breathing vs noise
08:30 Differences in age groups, genders & levels
11:00 When & how
13:30 Implementing sports science in tennis
26:45 Sleep hygiene
28:10 Wearable technology
29:45 Don’t be afraid to reach out
31:35 Mark Kovacs & Claudio Pistolesi
33:30 Adaptability
34:30 Cleaning helps you form ideas
35:15 You’re never on your toes in tennis
35:45 Stability & mobility
38:05 Recharge your battery
39:30 Race your own race