I like to hang out with the player. There are some coaches where they meet the player every morning at the courts and then when they leave and go their separate ways and come back the next day.
When I started coaching Andre, we were really good friend and we went to dinner almost every night. In a relaxed setting, it’s a really good time to understand a player. Sometimes you naturally talk about things in life and then circle back to tennis.
Andre sometimes liked to discuss an opponent or match at great length. At other times you realize as a coach that it’s not a good night to talk about tennis. Andy Roddick sometimes only wanted to talk about tennis for 15 seconds. Andy Murray was another one that liked to talk about tennis for a long time. So, what’s really important is to really understand your player. All players are different. They have different individualities and you have to kind of understand that.
The first person I ever really coached that had a zillion amount of information was Andy Murray. He had thousands of matches of every opponent. So sometimes that was too much information. If you’re watching and studying it all, it can be a little bit tricky. So, it’s also about how you process the information that you have got. Also, you need to remember that even if you have got a good read on a player, they can make adjustments. If you think, oh, I’ve been studying them, I’ve been watching them. Then all of a sudden, jeez, maybe he’s going to play a little differently.
Andre had a photographic memory. He could remember every single point played. If there was a 17-ball rally at 4–3, 15–30. He could recite it.
(Inspired by the podcast episode #77: “The Best Coaching is Done over Dinner” w. Brad Gilbert on The Adam Blicher Show — Dissecting High Performance in Tennis)
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