I (Michael) was fortunate enough to work with Maria Sharapova for a while, and she was just incredibly mentally intense. She listened very, very well. She was able to put into action the instruction that I gave her extremely quickly, which is very different to most juniors.
So back at the time when Maria was starting out on the tour, I had the job of being with her for a few weeks and then going back home. The difference even between the elite Australian juniors that I used to coach at the time and her when she was 16–17-year-old in terms of mental intensity and attention to detail was huge. I’d say something to Maria maximum 2 times and she would have already implemented it, whereas I’d go back home to Australia with even the 18 year old elite juniors, and I’d have to tell them things over and over again before they even got it. And some of them didn’t even get it. So, Maria was a really, really good example. Her physical and mental intensity has shown in the career that she has had.
Q: So, would it be fair to say that what you have experienced is that some of the better players also extremely quick at picking up new information?
Very much so. I was very lucky not to actually work with Roger Federer, but there was a time where I was in Shanghai because I had a small MITS (Melbourne International School) place there at the time and Tony Roche was there with Federer for the Masters. They were working on a couple of things back then. I think it was the second serve and something with the volley. Because I’d been coached with Tony, I knew exactly what he was trying to implement with Roger. Literally they spent 5–10 minutes maximum on it and it was there already. It’s just something that I think they’ve got the ability to do. To take an instruction and then implement it to their games. I guess that’s why they’re able to improve their games all the time.
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