Tennis player code and surviving to maturity
View(s):This is player responsibility, most critical. No one else can be orchestrating this process on behalf of the player. Players’ sports intelligence, sporting interest and value of sports achievement are the factors creates player’s commitment and sustaining it. Our behaviour is our commitment. In sports, it is true to say everything will fall into place if the player takes the responsibility to evolve.
My experience is in development, too many outsiders get into player’s bandwagon in the advent of player prominence, unfortunately with their self-interest; cause of too many premature exits of players without achieving anything.
A responsible sportsperson will look and behave with sporting lifestyle. Remember, secret eyes follow good sportsperson.
I once asked a globally leading sports management agency ‘how does one apply to be in your outfit? Answer was, we will find you if you are good. It shook me. Orchestrated news and mews about the player does not attract them, it is their business to know all about the players they pick. [Incidentally, these agencies dislike coaches approaching them]
Sports maturity
Most critical statement on this is, sports aspirants regardless of the discipline pursuing to reach higher level of competency bearing all the challenges, discomforts and sacrifices. This leads to sports maturity. To achieve this in tennis, facility availability, competition level physical development, demanding stroke-making skills and maturity are prerequisites. Unfortunately, their availability are not global. Even in developed nations, aspirants venture alien turfs with these, away from their own homestead.
Telltale sign of sports maturity is consistency of performance. Tennis, being round the year activity, often makes players vulnerable due to fatigue. As a billionaire’s daughter tennis player puts it, you will be criticised and the worst is, you are news only when you lose a match, rarely when you win. A mouthful I would say.
Talented and full development
Russia, even with long cold winter, is still a leading tennis nation. All known Russians and aspirants are now in France, Monte Carlo, Spanish-Portuguese Iberia and migrated to other countries. Migration is a global trend now with most students having overseas position in their mind, why not with tennis.
If one takes WTA ranking, only few pass their 30th birthday with top end WTA ranking. Hence, we remember the prominent and lasting names, others in our vague memory.
The American turf
With the ‘kick-start’, USA got with American pioneer tennis exponent and promoter Dwight Davis at the turn of the century, a training outfit came to being in Miami Florida 1914. Good five decades later an outfit named Saddle Brook started with tennis. As the name suggest, it was high-end show horse riding venue. Many show horse jumping venues ‘adopt tennis’ as their auxiliary sport.
Sport history indicates this took tennis into the elite European circle via horse riding and show jumping popularity. With this alignment, wherever Europeans went, horses went and tennis tagged along. [I heard this in Darwin Australia. Mighty Rod Laver spotted by Harry Hopman on a farm visit to evaluate his brother seated on the farm fence] Hopman told me riding muscles are very good for tennis, recommended partner-sport in the colonial stations.
ITF age group – Colombo
Sri Lankan entries were limited, as our players did not have the prerequisites. We have only one player in the qualifying bracket – Dinara de Silva. Spoke to many participants. A second girl from Sri Lanka won the last leg of the ITF Series in Colombo a week ago. Wintering country participants dominated the ITF draw, it went into qualifying rounds and Sri Lanka had a month of international junior events.
Physical attribute issue
In tennis, acquiring the physical attributes take longer than playing skills and a prerequisite for stroke making and tactics. Physical attributes sustain to winning tactics. In tennis, a match can be turned from the face of defeat to victory with physical attributes.
Player promotion
This is a better road in sports than junior development. Junior development in analogy over five decades on record consumed too much of our national resources delivered almost nothing. It made professional coaching into big scale business. Nothing will come out to be a noticeable contribution to tennis standard in Sri Lanka. Regret saying this, too many segments of local government, clubs and schools have made tennis into mega buck activity globally.
In India, tennis academies are in industrial zone of mega cities. It is not only tennis but many sports are providing training facilities to keeps off the streets of metropolis bad influences.
Time is on us now individually to work for competition tennis player maturity. No private institution can dedicate itself to this, leaving all the tennis academies in the island to be tennis nurseries. Not at all proud to pronounce it.
–George Paldano, European and Asian competition player; player development German Federation, National coach Brunei and Sri Lanka; Davis Cup, Federation Cup, ATP and WTA tour coach; WhatsApp +94775448880–