The Other Toni: Antonio Cascales, Unsung Guru of Spanish Tennis
Chris Lewit
Juan Carlos Ferrero and Antonio Cascales: founders of the academy.
You probably have never heard of Antonio Cascales. However—you may have heard of Juan Carlos Ferrero, Pablo Carreno Busta, and Carlos Alcaraz—who all have trained under his watchful eye.
He is not very well known outside of Spain, but his coaching record rivals many other top coaches in the country. He is most well-known for guiding Juan Carlos Ferrero to number 1 in the world and the 2003 Roland Garros title. Cascales coached Juan Carlos since he was about 10 years old—it's a remarkable story of how a small town coach helped a small town player became tennis champion of the world.
Founder
Cascales is also the founder, along with Juan Carlos, of the Juan Carlos Ferrero Equelite Tennis Academy, which has grown from a tiny club with 2 courts into one of the best tennis academies in the world with over 20 courts and world class facilities.
I recently had the good fortune of meeting and interviewing Antonio onsite at the JC Ferrero Equelite Academy in Villena, Spain. Cascales shared some fascinating stories, coaching insights, and he helped me to better understand the historical context for the rise of Spanish tennis on the world stage.
Chris Lewit, former #1 for Cornell and Pro Circuit player, has coached numerous top 10 nationally ranked juniors and is a leading coach, educator, and author. He has written two best-selling books, The Secrets of Spanish Tennis and The Tennis Technique Bible.
Chris runs a popular high performance summer tennis camp in the beautiful mountains of Vermont and coaches players world-wide through his virtual school, CLTA Online (CLTA.teachable.com).
Chris also produces a weekly high performance tennis video talk show and podcast, The Prodigy Maker Show, which is available on Apple Podcasts and all other podcasting directories. All shows can be accessed at ProdigyMaker.com.
Check out Chris's blog, also at ProdigyMaker.com for free articles on high performance junior development and Spanish training. Learn about his camp at ChrisLewit.com or visit the online academy at CLTA.teachable.com
The Secrets of Spanish Tennis
What makes Spanish tennis so unique and successful? What exactly are those Spanish coaches doing so differently to develop superstars like Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer that other systems are not doing? These and other questions are answered in The Secrets of Spanish Tennis, the culmination of five years of study on the Spanish way of training by USTA High Performance Coach Chris Lewit.
