Nick Bollettieri: Celebrated coach still going strong at 82 | The Independent Tennis Nick Bollettieri: Celebrated coach still going strong at 82 After 60 years in tennis, he has lost none of his energy and enthusiasm. He talks to Paul Newman about his remarkable career and his Wimbledon expectations Wednesday 18 June 2014 22:32 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Bollettieri: 'I always seemed to cause a bit of a commotion' Susannah Ireland By Nick Bollettieri’s standards this is a quiet week. The veteran American coach, who celebrates his 83rd birthday next month, flew into Britain on Saturday, took mass coaching sessions for juniors and adults at the Cumberland Lawn Tennis Club in north London on Sunday and Monday, conducted private lessons for the next two days and had dinner last night with Porsche executives who had flown in from Germany to meet him. There will be more lessons over the next three days, a dinner in London tomorrow night in recognition of his induction next month into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and then a trip to Northampton, where he will give a masterclass to coaches, players and parents at an event organised by the British Tennis Coaches Association.

Then he gets busy. As he does every year, Bollettieri will be at Wimbledon, which begins on Monday. In the rare free moments he will have between being stopped for a chat, an autograph or a photograph, he will be writing the columns which have lit up the pages of The Independent for the past 11 years, giving the benefit of his 60 years in tennis to listeners of BBC Radio Five live and offering support and encouragement to players from his Florida academy. Not that those commitments will stop the world’s most famous coach doing what he loves best. Bollettieri will still find time in the evenings to give some private lessons. At an age when many of his contemporaries would consider a weekly trip to the shops a major outing, Bollettieri still loves globe-trotting. Next year he will go to the Australian Open for the first time since 1997, when he helped guide Mary Pierce to the final. He will be a guest speaker at events in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. He has also accepted an invitation to open a new indoor tennis centre at the Rome Masters next May. “I believe that when people get tired travelling, a lot of that is psychological,” Bollettieri said.

“I’ve trained my mind to just treat a travelling day like any other day. Time changes don’t bother me at all. I still get up the same time of day wherever I am. “I’m lucky that I’m a good sleeper on planes. I never fly anything other than economy. I sit straight up in those seats and go to sleep. I remember being treated once to first-class tickets when I flew to France. I tried to cash in the tickets. When I sat down in one of those fancy seats I just didn’t know what to do. My wife couldn’t stop laughing.” Bollettieri’s life story reads like something out of The Boy’s Own Paper, which is probably why an autobiography has been at the forefront of his mind in recent years. “Bollettieri: Changing the Game” tells the extraordinary story of how a drop-out from law school became the best tennis coach in the business, despite having never played the game professionally. Born into an Italian family in a village near New York in 1931, Bollettieri studied in Alabama, where he played for the college tennis team, before becoming a paratrooper.

Nick Bollettieri coaches youngsters at the Cumberland Tennis Club in Hampstead, London (Susannah Ireland) On completing national service in 1956 he went to the University of Miami to study law. To finance his studies he started coaching at the local tennis courts. Before long he had given up his studies to concentrate on his new career. Bollettieri admits that at first he knew next to nothing about coaching. He sent out his wife, Phyllis, to spy on coaching programmes in the Miami area to pick up tips from other instructors. When he heard that Fred Perry was living locally he paid him a visit. Perry, who had won eight Grand Slam titles in the 1930s and was the last Briton to win Wimbledon until Andy Murray’s triumph last summer, gave Bollettieri one piece of advice that stuck with him: “Make sure you always have a good-looking woman with you.” Phyllis was the first of Bollettieri’s eight wives. Having quickly established himself as a good coach, Bollettieri became head tennis professional at the Dorado Beach Resort in Puerto Rico. In 1978 he bought a tennis club in Florida with 21 courts.

Louis Marx, a businessman who had become a good friend, then put up the $50,000 needed to buy a run-down 20-room motel where players on his coaching programme could live. By this time Bollettieri was formulating the idea of establishing a full-time institution where young players could live and train together in a professional environment. Two years later his wealthy friend put up the $1.2m that was needed to buy the plot of land in Bradenton where the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy was built. It was the first of its kind. Today there are tennis academies around the world – with eight in the Bradenton and Sarasota area alone. Jimmy Arias, Aaron Krickstein and Carling Bassett, who all became professionals, were among Bollettieri’s first intake of players. He subsequently worked with ten world No 1s: Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Jim Courier, Martina Hingis, Jelena Jankovic, Marcelo Rios, Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova and Serena and Venus Williams.

Kei Nishikori, Tommy Haas, Max Mirnyi, Sabine Lisicki and Britain’s Heather Watson are among those who currently list Bradenton as their home. IMG, which was recently taken over by the Hollywood talent agency William Morris Endeavor, bought the academy in 1987. It now caters for eight different sports. The tennis programme, of which Bollettieri remains the president, features 52 courts. “I always had a great relationship with IMG and I’m looking forward to working with the new owners,” Bollettieri said. He remains as committed as ever to his work. He gets up at 5.30am every weekday, or half an hour earlier if he has a 6am lesson. “I do about 10 to 12 minutes of stretching when I get up, maybe 50 to 100 sit-ups and 20 to 30 push-ups,” he said. “I don’t eat breakfast.” The day is spent with groups of players and coaches or with individual lessons. Thousands of “social” tennis players attend the academy and Bollettieri aims to spend time with all of them.

He usually finishes by 5pm, after which he likes to play nine holes of golf. At 7.30pm his manager passes on all his letters, texts and emails. Bollettieri answers all of them before going to bed at 11pm. On Saturdays he works at the academy in the morning before playing 36 holes of golf. Sunday is reserved for his family. Bollettieri, who has five children from previous marriages, and his 50-year-old wife, Cindi, adopted two boys from Ethiopia, Giovanni, nine, and Giacomo, six. Bollettieri, who went skydiving to celebrate his 80th birthday, jetskis and plays golf with the boys and watches their baseball matches. “On Sunday night the boys order in pizza and I join them,” he said. “Generally I’m very careful with my diet. I eat chicken and fish, maybe steak a couple of times a week. I don’t eat much bread and I have pasta maybe once every two weeks. I don’t drink alcohol any more.

Giacomo asked why I had a glass of wine every night and I didn’t have an answer, so I stopped.” As ever, Bollettieri is excited by the prospect of Wimbledon. He is tipping Serena Williams to win again. “I find it hard to see beyond her,” he said. “I think the biggest threat to Serena would be Serena herself. She needs to control herself and enjoy it. I think sometimes she’s too hard on herself, thinking she should win every single point.” He sees Novak Djokovic as a marginal favourite for the men’s title but would never rule out Rafael Nadal. He thinks Murray faces a big task following his back surgery and is concerned that the Scot’s second serve will be perceived by some of his opponents as a weakness. Whoever wins, Bollettieri will relish the occasion. He might also enjoy a wry smile when he considers how he might have been viewed in the not so distant past. “Many years ago I was coming in the back door a little bit,” he said. “I was bringing in the radicals – guys like Andre Agassi and Jim Courier. I also brought in the squeakers – Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova.

I always seemed to cause a bit of a commotion in the past. Now I’m very comfortable. For me to be able to go in the press room and work, it’s fantastic. I never expected that.” 'Bollettieri: Changing the Game' by Nick Bollettieri with Bob Davis is published by New Chapter Publisher Holding court | Sport | The Guardian Tennis Holding court In 1978 a former air force pilot borrowed $1m from a friend to open a tennis school. Nearly 30 years on, Nick Bollettieri has watched a succession of young proteges - including Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and now Maria Sharapova - romp to the top of the sport. So what's his secret?

Paul Kelso on the astonishing success of the most controversial coach in tennis Monday 5 July 2004 20.44 EDT First published on Monday 5 July 2004 20.44 EDT Share on Messenger Close This morning, as every morning at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, around a dozen of the most promising young tennis players in the world - accompanied by several hundred more who simply have the most ambitious and richest parents - will be beating balls back and forth in the sunshine. It is the same every day, nine months of the year on the sprawling 45-acre complex in the Tampa suburb of Bradenton, but today there should be an extra zip to the groundstrokes traded by the players, some of whom are barely taller than the rackets they wield with startling power. On Saturday in one of the most charming and unexpected sporting upsets of the year, 17-year-old Russian Maria Sharapova defeated world No 1 Serena Williams to win the ladies' singles final at Wimbledon.

The following day 16-year-old Miles Kasiri finished as runner-up in the boys' singles, the best finish in the event by a Briton since 1972 and a result interpreted as an augury of better times ahead for British tennis. Both Sharapova and Kasiri honed their games at the Bollettieri academy, and Sharapova made a point of thanking her coach in her centre-court acceptance speech. Today her success and that of Kasiri will be used to motivate the latest crop of young talent passing through the most famous, successful and controversial tennis school in the world. Many elements make up a champion athlete, but in tennis one of the surest ways to the top appears to be spending a spell at the academy founded in 1978 by the permatanned former paratrooper, whose pearly-white grin has widened with every champion. Sharapova joins a list of grand slam-winning Bollettieri graduates that includes Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles and Mary Pierce. Sharapova arrived at Bradenton aged just seven, following a recommendation from Martina Navratilova.

Bollettieri agreed that the young Sharapova had a rare talent, and she was quickly subsumed into a regime that has earned a reputation as the toughest youth academy in professional sport. Some have compared it to boot camp - it has been described as Alcatraz-on-Sea - and others questioned the effect of a hyper-competitive atmosphere on fragile adolescents, but there is no question that in the last 25 years the Bollettieri academy has become the most reliable production line in tennis. Born in North Pelham, New York State, Bollettieri played American football, baseball and basketball in his youth, but the individual game quickly became his passion. Showing a realism he tries to coach in to his charges today, he quickly realised, however, that his talent was limited. "I may not have known much about the game, but I knew enough to realise I was not going to be the first great Italian-American tennis player," he wrote in his autobiography, My Aces, My Faults. He was to become perhaps its greatest coach, however, and after serving as a paratrooper in Asia he pursued a career in the game, initially as a jobbing coach working across the Americas from Wisconsin to Puerto Rico.

It was a trip to a purpose-built tennis centre in California in the mid-1970s that helped decide his fate. In 1978 he borrowed $1m from a friend, built some courts, bought an old motel that was to serve as the first dormitory for his charges, coopted a local private school to accept his pupils for academic work, and opened his tennis school for business. Nearly 30 years on, the academy is unrecognisable from those ad-hoc beginnings. In 1987 IMG, the leading sports promotion and athlete management company in the world, bought into the facility, using it to develop highly marketable stars for their roster. Golf, basketball, soccer and American football academies have been founded based on the tennis academy, all of them supported by a performance institute and a "mental conditioning" centre. Around 575 kids enter the full-time programme every year, 5% of whom will be earmarked for progress to the professional ranks. Of the rest, most will make their way to college with a well-drilled forehand to offset the disappointment of the parents who enrolled them.

In the manner of modern American gurus, Bollettieri has a creed (literally; the Bollettieri Creed is constantly referred to in the academy's literature and on its website). "Our programme is based on three guiding principles: Discipline, Responsibility and Effort," he says. Translated, this means hard work and lots of it. Bradenton operates on a boarding-school basis, with a nine-month year combining four hours of study a day with five hours of intensive tennis drills that produce supremely fit, focused and disciplined athletes. For the select few, the Sharapovas and Agassis, a scholarship is provided; annual fees of more than $40,000 ensure that the others are made up exclusively of children of the affluent. "From the very start we stressed hard work and fitness," says Ted Meekma, a co-director of the academy and Bollettieri's business partner for the last 30 years. "We got the kids up at 6.30am, ran, did push-ups, sit-ups and hit a lot of balls. We drill them hard, and it pays off ...

Everything we do here is designed to help these kids cope with the mental and physical demands of competition." Bollettieri's fierce physical regime and emphasis on strength and power were apparent on Saturday as Sharapova blasted the supremely conditioned Williams off the centre court. It is an approach that has brought results, but also led to criticism that "Bollettieri players" are one-dimensional grinders, relying on weighty groundstrokes blasted from the baselines over the more delicate instinctive skills honed at the net. Agassi and Courier both won their titles from the back of the court, striking their returns earlier than had previously seemed possible and relying on exceptional fitness, and in Agassi's case speed, to outdo their opponents. It was a hugely effective and influential approach, so much so that true serve-volleyers such as Tim Henman, or genuine "all-court" touch players like Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, are now the exception. Meekma, however, rejects the suggestion that Bollettieri players lack inspiration. "You could not say that Andre or Jim were defensive. Nick coaches people never to take a backward step, but he also makes them play to their strengths.

When someone returns the ball like Andre, you would not coach him to charge to the net ... [Nick] can spot an idiosyncrasy that could come back to limit a player, and he gets rid of it which helps them fulfil their potential." That talent manifested itself in the case of Agassi when Bollettieri set about harnessing the young Las Vegan's extraordinary hand-eye coordination. Realising that his charge was able to react to his opponent's shots faster and more decisively than any player he had ever coached, he encouraged Agassi to stand two yards inside the baseline to take returns. Constant drilling produced perhaps the most devastating returner of serve the men's game has ever seen. Bollettieri's other demonstrable talent is in self-promotion. "Nick ... has always grasped the fact that for this to work we have to promote the business and the athletes," explains Meekma. "It has to be a commercial enterprise as well as a coaching academy.

If the business isn't working then we can't afford to pay for Monicas and Andres and Marias to pass through and make it to the top." Writing in yesterday's Independent, the coach was in no doubt who should take the credit for Kasiri's run to the final: "Let's get one thing straight. It wasn't a success story for English tennis that Kasiri reached the final. It was another success for the IMG Bollettieri Academy. Because when it came to the crunch a few years ago ... it was us who stepped up to the plate and gave him his chance, a scholarship at the academy." (In fact, Kasiri's mother Gail can claim much of the credit, having marched up to the American on a Wimbledon court when her son was 12 and demanded that he give him a chance.) Neither was Bollettieri slow to take credit for Sharapova's success. "I was delighted and overwhelmed when Maria thanked me by name for being so important in her career. Some people quickly forget those who have helped them achieve their goals.

Not Maria." This last tart remark may well be a veiled reference to criticism he has received from former pupils including Agassi, who has sought to play down Bollettieri's influence on his career, and Seles, with whom he fell out. He has also been described as "insignificant" by John McEnroe, and by common consent his relationship with Boris Becker was of little benefit to either man. The fact that Bollettieri took credit for Kasiri's success caused huge annoyance at the Lawn Tennis Association, the much maligned governing body of British tennis responsible for developing successors to Henman. David Felgate, Henman's former coach and now director of performance at the LTA, described it yesterday as "rubbish". He does acknowledge the Floridian's record, however. "Nick Bollettieri has had success over many years and that breeds success," he says. "With a reputation like that he has the pick of the best players in the world coming to him. In Britain we are dealing with kids from a single country, but the principles are the same. You provide great coaching, a high level of competition and make sure you work with the best.

His success is a useful stick to beat the LTA with, but you never hear about Bollettieri's failures. And at the end of the day, I don't care where our kids come from as long as they win." Unfortunately for the LTA, comparisons with the American are not about to go away. Even at 72, Bollettieri rises at 5am six days a week to exercise, skis and plays golf, and his enthusiasm for a game he has profoundly influenced shows no sign of diminishing. "I just love excitement and being with kids and around sports," he has said. "It's being able to make an impact on people's lives. How could you ask for anything more than that?" Stars in the making: The Bollettieri set Andre Agassi Joined the Bollettieri tennis academy as a 13-year-old in 1983 and turned professional three years later. Won his first tour title at Itaparica in 1987. Nurtured in his earlier years by his father, who boxed for Iran in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, before emigrating to Chicago.

Won 58 singles events, including 16 Masters Series and eight grand slam titles. Jim Courier Born in Florida in 1970, he excelled at baseball but chose to concentrate on tennis as a career. Was enrolled at the Bollettieri academy between 1983 and 1990, turning professional in 1988. Won his first grand slam event at the French Open in 1991. Won the French Open once more and the Australian Open twice. Monica Seles Born in Novi Sad, in the province of Vojvodina in the northern part of Yugoslavia, in 1973, she was encouraged to play tennis by her father, who trained her in the town's potholed parking lot. Arrived at the Bollettieri academy in 1985, aged 12. At 17, she became the youngest top-ranked tennis pro in history. Went on to win nine grand slam titles. Anna Kournikova Born in Russia in 1981 and sent to the Bollettieri academy at the age of 10.

Reached the Wimbledon semi-final weeks after her 16th birthday, but has yet to win a major tournament. Mary Pierce Born in 1975 in Montreal, Canada. Turned professional at the age of 14 and spent a number of years under the tutelage of Bollettieri. Her split with him was the subject of intense media speculation and their professional relationship was eventually to end on a sour note. Winner of two grand slams and 15 other tournaments during her career. Nick Bollettieri | National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame Sport: Tennis Decade Inducted: 00s A world-famous coach who revolutionized the idea of the “tennis academy,” then set his sights on training elite athletes in all disciplines. “Headmaster Bollettieri gives invaluable training tips, marital counseling, pasta recipes, gurudimentary cosmology, kick butt homilies – never, never ‘No comment.’ What more could you ask of a guy?” Tennis announcer Bud Collins on Nick Bollettieri Nick Bollettieri founded one of the most powerful tennis academies in the country in 1978.

The self-titled NBTA would go on to prepare its students for the rigors of the pro game, including such notable names as Agassi, Seles, Becker, Kournikova, Haas, Sharapova, Jankovic and the Williams sisters. The academy continued to grow into the mid-1980s, when Bob Kain’s IMG entered the picture and acquired the NBTA. After another half-decade-plus of work with top tennis players, the NBTA expanded in 1994, with the addition of new sports and sport-specific training. The complex is now over 180 acres, with scholastic facilities as well as athletic. Nick has been named the 1991 USPTA Coach of the Year, served as the Keynote Speaker at Oxford graduation ceremonies in 1996, was named the United States Olympic Committee National Coach of the Year in 1999 and was listed #16 on Tennis Magazine’s 50 Most Influential People in Tennis in 2000. Bollettieri was elected to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. Nick Bollettieri - A Legendary Tennis Coach!

Our Privacy Policy Famous Students Nick Bollettieri has coached numerous world class players over the years. The most impressive ones are the ones that spent the formative years of their junior career at the academy. Let’s have a closer look at the most famous students: Andre Agassi Agassi is the first student that comes to mind when people think of Nick Bollettieri. Agassi spent his junior years at the academy and was the first of Nick?s students to win a Grand Slam title! Andre has often said that he hated the bootcamp atmosphere at the academy yet he also credits Bollettieri with much of his success! Overall Andre won eight Grand Slam singles titles and 60 overall titles on the ATP Tour throughout his career. For more on Andre Agassi click here! Monica Seles Monica started working with Nick in 1986 at the age of 13. She hits two-handed on both sides and Nick has described her as one of the hardest workers he has ever seen! Throughout her career she won 9 Grand Slam singles titles and 53 overall singles titles on the professional circuit Jim Courier Courier came to the academy after winning the 14 and under Orange Bowl which is considered the unofficial junior world championship in Tennis.

With Bollettieri as his coach he went on to start a very successful professional career. His game was built around great footwork and a strong forehand. His backhand was considered his weakness. He won 4 Grand Slam singles titles and 23 overall singles titles throughout his career. Tommy Haas Tommy has attended the academy since the age of 13 and still trains there today! His father found a few sponsors that signed a contract to finance Tommy?s stay at the academy and entitled the sponsors to a percentage of Tommy?s prize money. Overall Tommy has had a successful pro career winning 12 singles titles. Maria Sharapova Maria is a great example of someone that spent their junior years at the academy. She came to the academy at the young age of 7 with her dad who had to wash dishes among other jobs to pay for her stay! Nick was instantly impressed with the young Russian whom he saw as fiercely competitive with an incredible self-confidence. Sharapova still trains at the academy today. So far she has won 3 Grand Slam singles titles and 22 overall WTA titles. For more on Maria Sharapova click here!

Marcelo Rios Bollettieri has often said that Rios was the most talented of all his pupils but lacked the work ethic to fully realize his potential. The Chilean won 18 singles titles in his pro career and reached the world number one ranking for a period of six weeks. Jelena Jankovic Jankovic is another kid from Eastern Europe that came to the academy at a young age. Bollettieri saw a lot of potential and once even that said he thinks she will dominate the world?s scene of Tennis one day! So far she has not won a Grand Slam title but owns 12 singles titles on the WTA Tour.

Nick Bollettieri calls himself 'a maverick and a cowboy' but is still holding court after all these years - Telegraph Tennis Nick Bollettieri calls himself 'a maverick and a cowboy' but is still holding court after all these years Ten world No 1s have come through the American coach's famous academy in Florida but his greatest memory is Andre Agassi’s 1992 Wimbledon triumph The guru and the star: Nick Bollettieri with Andre Agassi in 1990 Photo: GETTY IMAGES Play our interactive quiz: Name that tennis player's grunt At Miami’s Crandon Park, three weeks ago, the calls of the circling seagulls were drowned out by the harsh “Eurrghh!” and “Aeeeowww!” of tennis’s two biggest female superstars. While Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova traded zingers and grunts on centre court, the man who coached them both as teenagers stood some 200 yards away among the concession stands, signing copies of his new book. Nick Bollettieri represents as remarkable a success story as any of his pupils.

He barely even hit a tennis ball until his final year of high school, and only found his first coaching job aged 25, with the help of the Florida mafia. Andre Agassi, his best-known protégé, once described him as “a hustler [who] doesn’t love the game or even know it all that well”. Yet Bollettieri persevered until he had become one of the biggest names in the sport, more prominent within tennis circles than most grand slam winners. In July, his eminence will be recognised when he joins the 1999 Wimbledon champion Lindsay Davenport and the former BBC tennis correspondent John Barrett in an induction ceremony at the Hall of Fame. Related Articles Murray scores double top 05 Apr 2014 “It was an accident,” says Bollettieri, in his distinctive sandpapery whisper, when asked how he fell into tennis in the first place. “I was a paratrooper and when I got out of the service my dad wanted me to be a lawyer. I liked surfing so I moved to Miami. "There were these two tennis courts across from the city administration building, and I had to make a little money.

I didn’t know my ass from my elbow, but I began teaching at three dollars an hour. After five months I dropped out of law school and I said: ‘I’m gonna stick with tennis’.” Stick with it he did. The Hall of Fame has welcomed several other coaches over the years, but none so iconoclastic. As with the equally nonconformist Richard Williams, who entrusted his two young daughters to the Bollettieri Academy in the mid-90s, we are talking about “a maverick and a cowboy” – in the man’s own words. That line is taken from Changing The Game, Bollettieri’s autobiography, which came out earlier this month. It is an enjoyable read, as garrulous as the man himself, that veers unpredictably from hubris to self-reproach. Early on, we learn of the tragic death of Bollettieri’s younger brother Jimmy Boy, who was still a teenager when he tripped on the stairs and choked to death on one of their mother’s washing lines. Here, surely, is the root of Nick’s determination to wring every drop of juice out of his own life. Bollettieri had originally wanted to be a fighter pilot.

But after failing the written test, he found enough fame – some would say notoriety – in tennis to finance a succession of marriages and fancy cars. When anyone asks him “Have you really had eight wives?” he replies. “Why, are you looking to become the ninth?” In Changing The Game – note the audacity of the title – he claims credit for numerous tennis innovations. In technical terms, the two most influential must be the drive volley (known as the swing volley by Americans) and the reverse forehand (so called because the racket brushes up the back of the ball, generating extra topspin, before moving backwards in a lasso-style whip over the head). Both strokes would have been impossible to play with wooden rackets, with their microscopic sweet spots, but soon became indispensable in the age of graphite frames and synthetic strings. Throw in the Bollettieri Academy itself in Bradenton, a tennis boot-camp that Agassi described as “Karate Kid with rackets, Lord of the Flies with forehands”, and you can see why Bollettieri has a claim to being the father figure of the modern game. His methods could be ruthless.

As if dunking a load of Siamese fighting fish into one small tank, he would send a group of feisty teenagers out to the back of his 12-acre lot. Those who prospered would work their way up to the “supreme court” where the motormouthed, permatanned, ever-shirtless Bollettieri led the sessions himself. No fewer than 10 world No 1s have come through Bradenton. But it only took one to make the place famous. As a rebellious teenager, Agassi grew his hair long, wore make-up and painted his fingernails pink. It is hard to imagine anyone more likely to antagonise the military-minded Bollettieri. Yet the two men formed a successful double act for almost a decade, leading up to Agassi’s first grand slam title at Wimbledon in 1992, and Bollettieri still smiles at the mere mention of the name. “Andre wore rouge and fingernail polish,” Bollettieri says now. “He was totally different. You never knew what to expect. Jim Courier [Agassi’s teenage rival and contemporary] said I should have thrown him out a hundred times. But I saw something in him that was unusual.

You could never yell at him on the court either, he was very sensitive. Courier I could beat the ---- out of. “Winning Wimbledon with Andre is my greatest memory in tennis. He called me about four days before the tournament and said: ‘Let’s go to Boca Raton to practise’. He had a girlfriend there, Wendi. We played golf, hit with [Robert] Seguso for 30 minutes. "Then we got to England and he gave a clinic. They said ‘Andre, where you been?’ He said ‘I been practising for two weeks.’ We hadn’t hit one ball on grass, but he went on to win the title. “He had the ladies from England trying to buy those short shorts for Chrissakes. He turned the crowd on, he really did. He had a way, man. He had ‘em jumping, man. When he retired at the US Open, the concession stands stopped to hear his speech. Everybody stopped. Not many people can do that.” Agassi and Bollettieri’s professional relationship ended unhappily, a few weeks after their Wimbledon win, and the estrangement presumably fuelled those vindictive comments in Agassi’s 2009 autobiography Open.

But they have since made up, with Agassi contributing a warm video message for his old friend’s Hall of Fame induction. If Agassi has forgiven Bollettieri for his Darwinist approach, others still argue that he has tarnished the sport – though for a very different reason. The most successful grunters in women’s tennis – Williams, Sharapova, Monica Seles – have all worked with Bollettieri, and so did the loudest of them all, Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal. In his book, he writes: “I never taught it but I defended it because a number of my champions have made it part of their arsenal of weapons.” “It started with Monica Seles,” Bollettieri says now. “She was so thin, so small, she looked like she would fall down when she hit the ball. She thought that if she was going to hit the ---- out of it, she had to make a noise. "What I would suggest now is they teach kids who are 10 and under how to breathe. But I don’t know if the authorities have the will to make a stand on this issue.

"Remember that when they play, a player can go up to the umpire and say ‘I just can’t take this any more’, and then it’s up to the umpire. Overall, I don’t think you have as much grievance from the players as the public.” Is he not concerned about the damage this issue has done to his image? Bollettieri grins. “One thing my dad told me, your critics are your best friends, because if they’re talking about you they’re thinking about you. That was good advice my dad gave me. I really don’t give a ---, because I know who I am. I always have.” Bollettieri: Changing the Game by Nick Bollettieri is published by New Chapter, price £16.28. Meeting Nick BollettieriPledge Sports google+ WANT to know what a world-famous Octogenarian tennis coach is up to on the eve of Wimbledon? PLEDGESPORTS Founder Richard Pearson doesn’t hide the fact that he’s a huge tennis fan, so when he literally bumped into legendary tennis coach Nick Bollettieri at his tennis club in Dublin, he was shocked.

“I became a massive tennis fan in the 90′s during the period when the Sampras V Agassi rivalry ruled tennis and the US was the dominant force on the ATP tour with Agassi, Sampras, Couier and Chang all being in the top ten for years,” he says “I was alway an Andre Agassi fan so to meet the man who coached him – Nick Bollettieri – was incredible.” Thankfully he regained composure for long enough to talk to the great tennis guru and find out some of the secrets that have helped him mould some of the world’s finest tennis players, most notably that eight-time Grand Slam title winner Andre Agassi. “Nick was great, a real personable guy who wanted to talk to everyone,” Richard explains. “So when I told him I work with a lot of tennis players he said, ‘hey, lets go outside, sit down and we can have a talk’, I was delighted. “We discussed the usual: Federer, has he one more Grand Slam in him?

Murray, Djokovic, and of course the PledgeSports tennis players – I was so delighted to hear he had offered Jenny Claffey a week at his tennis academy in Florida.” He adds: “For the record, we both agree that Federer is not really fussed about doing well in tournaments leading up to Grand Slams, and that, at his age, he has found it is best conserve his energy for the gruelling 5 setters that may have to be played in slams, like Wimbledon 2016.” At 85, Nick Bollettieri still coaches tennis all day from 6am. He still has 20:20 vision, despite having had no surgery and never using glasses. He still weight the same (154lbs) as when he was a master paratrooper in his early 20s, and he only sleeps 4.5 hours every night. This year he will travel 225,000 miles to coach tennis, spreading his genius across all levels of the sport, and not least at Wimbledon this week and beyond.

Richard concluded: “The guy is an inspiration, and I was so surprised by how sharp, fit and active he was at 85. I think most 70-year-olds out there would be jealous. In fact, he is way more active and fit that friends of mine in their 30′s!” Nick Bollettieri is most famous for his coaching of Andre Agassi, but he has participated in the development of so many more leading tennis players, including former World No.1s Jim Courier and Monica Seles, and World No. 3 Mary Pierce – who between them won 17 Grand Slam titles. He also coached three-time Wimbledon winner Boris Becker for two years and has worked with Maria Sharapova, Jelena Janković, Tommy Haas, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, Marcelo Ríos, and Kei Nishikori. Click the link below to find more about how you can create your own sporting opportunities through PledgeSports.org, or about how you can give others an opportunity to become the best athletes they can be.

Andy Murray’s tennis coaching mentors assessed by Nick Bollettieri | Sport | The Guardian The Observer Andy Murray’s tennis coaching mentors assessed by Nick Bollettieri The respected coach rates the British player’s backroom staff over the years and suggests what he might need in his new appointment Andy Murray is looking for his 11th coach having split with Amélie Mauresmo earlier this month. Photograph: Ciambelli/Sipa/Rex/Shutterstock The Observer Andy Murray’s tennis coaching mentors assessed by Nick Bollettieri The respected coach rates the British player’s backroom staff over the years and suggests what he might need in his new appointment Saturday 21 May 2016 08.00 EDT Last modified on Saturday 21 May 2016 17.01 EDT Share on Messenger Close Andy Murray is looking for his 11th coach , but how have his previous coaches raised his game? Few people are a better judge than Nick Bollettieri, a former paratrooper and self-taught tennis coach, who helped discover Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova and then turned them into world beaters.

Among the most respected coaches on the Tour, the American first spotted Murray when he was 13 and has followed his career ever since. “Andy’s had 10 coaches,” he says. “When I was introduced at the International Tennis Hall of Fame as the best coach, I said ‘no, I’m not the best coach, I may be one of them’, but I hold the undisputed title of having eight wives. Andy holds the title of the most coaches.” Amélie Mauresmo: Andy Murray’s on-court behaviour played part in split Read more The early years Judy Murray, Leon Smith and Pato Álvarez Murray credits his mother, Judy, with developing the fundamentals of his game and some of his variety. Judy brought in Smith from 1998 and then later sent her son to Spain in 2002 where he met Álvarez. “I believe in the beginning it was very important for Andy to keep the ball in play because I think [it suited] his temperament,” Bollettieri says. “If he had tried to be a big hitter in the beginning, he probably would have quit tennis.

That Spanish way of keeping the ball in play and grinding it out was good to a certain extent but it’s very difficult to become a champion like that today. But Judy, she’s a winner.” June 2005 - April 2006 Mark Petchey The former British Davis Cup player acted as something of a mentor. Under Petchey, Murray won his first ATP Tour title in San Jose and moved into the top 50. Unfortunately Petchey wasn’t in San Jose as he was on holiday and Murray moved on in the summer of 2006. “He missed that San Jose win – if I was working with Andy, I’d say, if you fire me, you have to pay me alimony,” says Bollettieri. July 2006 - November 2007 Brad Gilbert Former world No4 Gilbert coached Agassi to world No1 and his hefty pay demands were met by the LTA for the majority of his time with Murray. “Brad was certainly very different,” says Bollettieri. “The thing about Brad is that even though his strokes were ugly, as he admits, he knew how to win by getting into people’s minds.

That’s what made Gilbert a good player and a good coach.” 2007 - 2011 Miles Maclagan and Àlex Corretja Murray hired another former British Davis Cup player in the mild-mannered but astute Maclagan, with whom he reached his career-high ranking of No2 and made his first grand slam final at the 2008 US Open. Maclagan was part of the first “Team Murray”, which included a physio and two fitness trainers and later the former world No2 Corretja. “I don’t believe you can reach the top of the banana tree in anything in life without a team,” Bollettieri says. “The team must devote their life to the mission and everybody’s got to do their part. It has worked for Andy.” January 2012 - March 2014 Ivan Lendl At the end of 2011, Murray announced that former world No1 Lendl would be his new coach.

The first of the so-called “super coaches”, his arrival brought Olympic gold in London , quickly followed by a first grand slam title at the US Open in 2012 and then the holy grail of a Wimbledon title in 2013 . “I believe that Lendl brought discipline,” says Bollettieri. “He was basically telling Andy: ‘bullshit, go out and do it now, I don’t want to hear it’. There’s only one way that Lendl plays, to win. If a person is in front of the net, he’s going to knock their head off, that’s it, period. That’s Lendl, no monkey business – I don’t care if the crowd like me or don’t like me, I don’t give a shit, it’s all about winning.” June 2014 - May 2016 Amélie Mauresmo Murray continued to set new trends with the appointment of former women’s world No1 Mauresmo in the summer of 2014. Mauresmo helped Murray recover his form after back surgery (accompanied occasionally by Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman), winning seven titles, reaching two grand slam finals and regaining the world No2 ranking.

“I think Mauresmo brought calmness,” Bollettieri says. “Amélie filled a great gap and she brought maybe a little more tenderness.” March 2016 - Jamie Delgado Murray hired Delgado, another former Davis Cup player for Britain, to accompany him for 40 weeks a year, a constant as Mauresmo juggled with motherhood. After splitting with Mauresmo, Murray promptly won the title in Rome with some of his best ever form, helped by a vastly-improved second serve. “That might be a combination of both Delgado and Mauresmo,” Bollettieri says. “The second serve sat up and he was always on the defence. Right now, he’s getting a lot more wrist-snap. He had to go for it. If he didn’t, there’s no way Andy would be doing what he’s doing now.” And finally … Bollettieri’s advice for Murray’s next coach “I’m telling you if they come out and screw around with his technique and movement, it’s going to hurt him. He has worked his backside off physically, he’s gotten better mentally and strokes-wise, not too much [should] be done to that, in my opinion. Murray fights.

Once in a while he’ll look up and give you the fist, but that’s him, man.” IMG Academy Tennis Training in Florida - Bollettieri Tennis 115 D-I Commitments Since 2012 About Our Program The IMG Academy Bollettieri tennis program pioneered the concept of a residency program nearly 40 years ago and still sets the standard by which all tennis academies around the world are measured. Through the program’s focus on technical, tactical, physical, and mental instruction, we’ve developed champions at every level. With a program infrastructure that allows for student-athletes to grow and compete with others with similar skill sets, IMG Academy tennis represents the ultimate program for everyone from nationally ranked elite players with aspirations of being a professional to those who want to compete at all levels of collegiate tennis. Program Accomplishments 10 worldwide #1 tennis players developed 51 combined Eddie Herr and Easter Bowl titles 4 NCAA singles titles won in the past seven years 115 D-I commitments since 2012 Notable 2016 ITF rankings of IMG student-athletes: Girls: Katie Swan: #2, Sofya Zhuk: #4, Fanny Stollar: #7 Boys:

Question: Nick Bollettieri is a famous coach in which sport?
Answer: Tennis