Sven Groeneveld What is a Tour Coach?

[don_budge]

Sven Groeneveid...European gentleman

Agree to disagree.

I can see how people would say that. He's a low key guy. May not show up on camera but in person he's far from boring.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

I listened to audio and I watched his mannerisms repeatedly. Over and over...trying to get every single word correct so as not to lose anything in translation.

Sven is a European gentleman. English is not his first language. European men tend to be a bit more reserved and coupled with his language reservation he may come off a bit methodical. The hand gestures are measured exactly with his words. The right interfacing with the left. But the eyes sort of tell the story...he is not squinting. He is piercing. He's one tough hombre.

It's an interesting interview. Even in the short time span that he gave us here, there was a wealth of information...that is, there was the tip of the ice berg. He more or less was informing us that there is more to being a tour coach than meets the eye.

He looks like he would be a great guy to have in your "corner". Think boxing trainers. He's analytical. He is studying your opponent for you. He knows you inside out...your capabilities as well as your liabilities. He can match the two up and come up with a game plan while at the same time plotting the course of other players. Booking planes...hotels. Countless details. He's been there. All of the tour stops. He speaks four languages...at least.

I wonder if there is a job where all you have to do is the scouting, preparation, match observation...post match analysis. Time to party. Probably not. Being a tour coach is a full time job and then some.

Brilliant dude! I'd work for him.

[don_budge]

The Transcript...for those of us with short term memory problems

Let's get your thoughts on the Sven Groeneveld interview: "What is a Tour Coach?"

My thoughts are...once the air stops moving that your lips created by flapping half of your audience has forgotten everything that you said. Here is what Sven said...verbatim.

Sven Groeneveld...What is a Tour Coach?

Sven’s Background...

I’ve worked with many players on tour...from Monica Seles to Mary Pierce to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Michael Stich, Greg Rudzedski, Nicolas Kieffer, Tommy Haas, Mario Ancic. And I was head of Swiss tennis when Roger Federer was sixteen, seventeen years old and went through that development in his younger years. In 2006 I joined the Adidas team, the Adidas player development program which gave me a chance to even work with more players. Andy Murray, Fernando Verdasco, Paradorn Srichaphan, Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniaki and many, many more.

Aspects...

A tour coach has to be flexible. He has to be willing to listen...willing to learn...and to gain their trust of their player. It consists of, obviously, doing a lot of scouting, the preparation for their player. The player obviously has his strengths or her weaknesses...and through time you need to find patterns. The patterns of play or your opponents and also the patterns of play of your own player.

Strength and Weaknesses...

The role of the coach is to pinpoint which are the strength and which is the weaknesses. I for example love to work on the players strength and maximize their potential in that area...because if you do that automatically if you do that the weakness is going to improve just because of the standard...they going to increase the level of play but also their feelings are going to be better...they are going to have more confidence. And through exercise you can actually raise their level of confidence.

Timing of Change...

Within a certain time frame...in a few days you can actually do a lot of work because they normally travel from tournament to tournament so as a tour coach you don’t have months of work you have to pick your times and you have to pick your spot. So here at Indian Wells it’s a perfect time to actually...right after the Australian circuit to come to Indian Wells and if you do happen to lose early...prior to Miami...to work on those little areas.

Scheduling...

Now it obviously helps if the coach has some knowledge about the point system...about the structure of the ranking system...and through the years you will see that as a tour coach you will gain experience about what tournament is good for your player or for one player or another player which is an aggressive player...clay courts...which clay courts? Do you go to the slower clay courts of northern Europe or do you go to the faster clay courts in the southern Europe or in South America.

Who are Tour Coaches?...

Where you see a lot of the coaches actually that are tour coaches as former players. However there are some other coaches that grow with the player then eventually go through the ITF circuit and find themselves on the tour.

What Tour Coaches need...

Being to identify more and more what the tour coach is in need of...and that is a need of information also when they are touring...and so through the media and through a platform like TennisPlayer.net that gives you a great opportunity to also educate these coaches.

What is Orange Coach?

We believe that through forming an association you can create a baseline of what is necessary to be a tour coach...that’s a start. Now we are in 2013 and in 2002 there was no association. So we are actually in the process of creating a platform for coaches to be recognized, to be identified and to make a name for themselves.

[GeoffWilliams]

The audio was my fault. For some reason the mike I put on Sven didn't record so the audio was ambiant from the camera. I wish I had someone else to blame.

OH well. AT least you can trust my opinion! The use of his hands, to emphasize points, is insecure. Squinty eyes, and monotonous voice, makes me want to change the channel!

[klacr]

The audio was my fault. For some reason the mike I put on Sven didn't record so the audio was ambiant from the camera. I wish I had someone else to blame.

It was a bit low. No one is perfect.

I just turned my volume up.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[johnyandell]

The audio was my fault. For some reason the mike I put on Sven didn't record so the audio was ambiant from the camera. I wish I had someone else to blame.

[klacr]

BAd video, cannot hear it. Boring guy under the camera.

Agree to disagree.

I can see how people would say that. He's a low key guy. May not show up on camera but in person he's far from boring.


On another note Jeff, I'm getting some new racquets in. Philippoussis' racquets, The old head prestige frames, Painted black, weighted like a beast, solid feel. I've got 4 coming from the same guy that customized them for mark 15 years ago.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

BAd video, cannot hear it. Boring guy under the camera.

[klacr]

Nice interview highlighting a good guy. Sven Groeneveld has been around the tour long enough to speak with the experience and knowledge of a veteran. It's also great to see him expand his role and take on the responsibility of Orange Coach and embrace continuing education.

Sven has lots of great stories from being on tour for as long as he has and some good ideas for player development. I'd love to see more interviews with Sven and getting more in-depth into how he prepares his players for a big match as well as his opinions on the state of US tennis and other hot topics.

But knowing JY, I have a feeling there are more videos to come from Sven and getting more in depth with tennis. Stay tuned I guess...

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[johnyandell]

Let's get your thoughts on the Sven Groeneveld interview: "What is a Tour Coach?"