Worst coach?

[George Turner]

I'm not an expert on tennis coaches. Are there any *bad* coaches out there who seem to have a negative effect on their pupils?

Ofc Tomic's dad deserves a mention here, has helped destroy his sons career with his horrible, pushy attitude. Jimmy Connors lasted one game under Sharapova and didn't do much for Roddick. I always thought Miles Maclagan seemed too much of a yes man under Andy Murray. Todd Martin is probably one of the worst, altered Djokovics service motion so he was serving more double faults than aces in 2010.

What other bad pro coaches have their been?

 

[Mainad]

Always rather liked Miles Maclagan. Don't forget that Andy made his breakthrough as a top player with Miles as his coach. Unfortunately, he couldn't get Andy over the Slam winning line and that's why they eventually parted.

I guess the others you mentioned would qualify just because of the sheer brevity of their tenures. Navratilova with Radwanska also springs to mind. Also never cared much for Larry Stefanki as he seemed to alter Roddick's playing style for the worse.

 

[VaporDude95]

Todd Martin with Djokovic. He played a part in that awful service motion of 2009-2010

Edit: I read the op’s post but Todd was so bad that he deserves a second mention

We should add Pepe Imaz to this list as well, for obvious reasons

 

[MLRoy]

Darren Cahill every time he didn't tell Halep to get her asss to the net. Lousy on-court coaching. Mugu's Coach Shutdafuckup is horrible at on-court coaching: "Come on, let's go."

Worst coachee: Mugu, CooCoo, Horseface Murray, Jokerbitch, and anyone who bad-mouths their coaches while playing a match deserves a backhand across the mug for not taking responsibility. Damn it!

 

[George Turner]

Always rather liked Miles Maclagan. Don't forget that Andy made his breakthrough as a top player with Miles as his coach. Unfortunately, he couldn't get Andy over the Slam winning line and that's why they eventually parted.

I guess the others you mentioned would qualify just because of the sheer brevity of their tenures. Navratilova with Radwanska also springs to mind. Also never cared much for Larry Stefanki as he seemed to alter Roddick's playing style for the worse.

Stefanki is credited for helping Roddick reach the 2009 Wimbledon final but Roddicks forehand became pish late in his career. Idk if that was because of Stefanki.

Radwanska strikes me as a hard player to coach because of her playing style, she's a player entirely dependent on craft. There's nothing wrong with her game except she has no power and you can't really coach power.

Todd Martin with Djokovic. He played a part in that awful service motion of 2009-2010

Edit: I read the op’s post but Todd was so bad that he deserves a second mention

We should add Pepe Imaz to this list as well, for obvious reasons

You need a very long hug bro, learn the power of love and peace

 

[DerekNoleFam1]

Amelie Mauresmo with Andy Murray anyone?
Johnny Mac with Becker as well.

 

[PMChambers]

Honourable mention to Roger Rasheed. As a fitness coach and positive thinking coach probably alright but as a pure tennis coach he has a low cap. Listening to some of this theories which are basically push and run I don't think he has the tennis knowledge to get beyond a point. He reads into the stats theories that are incorrect, like get a third ball in play and you will win. That only works when your in a dominant position. Pushing to any top 10 will result in loss. Winning the last point of the match also tends to make champions but does not mean you ignore those points in between. He tempers a players natural firepower in favour of defence or high percentage tennis. All players in today's game are aggressively looking to get into a dominant position, players like Ferrer might not have the firepower to go clean winners but his aim is still to hit a deep ball with lots of kick driving the opponent back so that they respond with a short ball. Even the runners like Chang are always looking to get into position to attach a short ball, he's not playing neutral. Nadal is trying for a neutral return, not a defensive return, neutral and defensive are different. If Rasheed got hold of Federer he'd have him slice everything to the back hand and temper the 1st serve, never see him attack the net.
Some players especially those with poor exercise and fitness may benefit from his coaching. Maybe those with lots of self doubt or disinterest might also as he's a committed man. But he should not be coaching anyone looking to be Top 50 as a pure coach.

 

[J011yroger]

There was this guy in Japan who played JV tennis in the 70s and one year of community college until he dropped out. He is barely literate and acts like he knows everything and goes around telling people his farcical theories and loses his poop if anyone disagrees with him.

J

 

[Red Rick]

Roddick stopped cracking forehands long before Stefanki.

Whoever coached Dimitrov after 2014.

 

[Red Rick]

Darren Cahill every time he didn't tell Halep to get her asss to the net. Lousy on-court coaching. Mugu's Coach Shutdafuckup is horrible at on-court coaching: "Come on, let's go."

Worst coachee: Mugu, CooCoo, Horseface Murray, Jokerbitch, and anyone who bad-mouths their coaches while playing a match deserves a backhand across the mug for not taking responsibility. Damn it!

If I can get payed a **** load for Andy Murray to yell at me I'll go on my knees and say 'thanks for thy wisdom, Lord Muzziah'

 

[BHServe]

Todd Martin with Djokovic. He played a part in that awful service motion of 2009-2010

Edit: I read the op’s post but Todd was so bad that he deserves a second mention

We should add Pepe Imaz to this list as well, for obvious reasons

Djokovic had terrible service motion already before 09-10. It was Becker who made great input to fix that.

 

[DerekNoleFam1]

Honourable mention to Roger Rasheed. As a fitness coach and positive thinking coach probably alright but as a pure tennis coach he has a low cap. Listening to some of this theories which are basically push and run I don't think he has the tennis knowledge to get beyond a point. He reads into the stats theories that are incorrect, like get a third ball in play and you will win. That only works when your in a dominant position. Pushing to any top 10 will result in loss. Winning the last point of the match also tends to make champions but does not mean you ignore those points in between. He tempers a players natural firepower in favour of defence or high percentage tennis. All players in today's game are aggressively looking to get into a dominant position, players like Ferrer might not have the firepower to go clean winners but his aim is still to hit a deep ball with lots of kick driving the opponent back so that they respond with a short ball. Even the runners like Chang are always looking to get into position to attach a short ball, he's not playing neutral. Nadal is trying for a neutral return, not a defensive return, neutral and defensive are different. If Rasheed got hold of Federer he'd have him slice everything to the back hand and temper the 1st serve, never see him attack the net.
Some players especially those with poor exercise and fitness may benefit from his coaching. Maybe those with lots of self doubt or disinterest might also as he's a committed man. But he should not be coaching anyone looking to be Top 50 as a pure coach.

Thanks for the reminder about Rasheed, he was terrible with Baby Fed, with his over the top fitness regime and emphasis.
He may as well be training his charges for the Hawaiian Ultramarathon, rather than be a tennis player.
Mind you, it would be good to see him bash someone like Nick Kyrgios into shape, but he would still need a tennis strategist.

 

[TimHenmanATG]

I saw a really interesting stat once which said that Andy Murray's forehand speed increased by 5mph under Lendl's tutelage.

It really makes me curious how much of an impact the coach actually makes to these players.

I really doubt that Andy didn't consider hitting his forehand with more power without Ivan as his coach.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Larry Stefanki.

He destroyed Roddick's FH (which was a cannon) and compromised everything about his game, except the serve.

 

[cc0509]

Many of the abusive parent coaches who forced their kids to play tennis and win at all costs to the kids' detriment. There are too many examples of these type of parent coaches to list. One example would be
Timea Bacsinszky's father. She's estranged from him to this day due to his early abuse as a coach/father.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

sorry... ​

 

[Fabresque]

Larry Stefanki.

He destroyed Roddick's FH (which was a cannon) and compromised everything about his game, except the serve.

Are you kidding me?? Roddick was already pulling back his bazooka forehand before Stefanki got there. And his backhand improved GREATLY with Stefanki’s input. Watch the 2009 Wimbledon Final, that should show you how much of an impact stefanki had on Roddick’s game.

 

[ZiggyStardust]

Nick Bollettieri. He's not really a traveling coach, but I give him a large portion of the credit for destroying American tennis (and to an extent women's tennis), by prioritizing qualities that lead to junior success at the expense of those that matter in the long run.

 

[Sudacafan]

I'm not an expert on tennis coaches. Are there any *bad* coaches out there who seem to have a negative effect on their pupils?

Ofc Tomic's dad deserves a mention here, has helped destroy his sons career with his horrible, pushy attitude. Jimmy Connors lasted one game under Sharapova and didn't do much for Roddick. I always thought Miles Maclagan seemed too much of a yes man under Andy Murray. Todd Martin is probably one of the worst, altered Djokovics service motion so he was serving more double faults than aces in 2010.

What other bad pro coaches have their been?

I don’t know, but please change your avatar if you don’t mind. It’s really disgusting. Resembles that It movie. It gives me nightmares.

 

[yokied]

Nick Bollettieri. He's not really a traveling coach, but I give him a large portion of the credit for destroying American tennis (and to an extent women's tennis), by prioritizing qualities that lead to junior success at the expense of those that matter in the long run.

Can you please expand on this point? I was thinking about this the other day. A lot of the American players I've seen including and since Roddick look so manufactured.

I'd also nominate Thiem's coach for all time worst non-clay court positioning and shot selection.

 

[Tshooter]

Larry Stefanki.

He destroyed Roddick's FH (which was a cannon) and compromised everything about his game, except the serve.

Agree but note that Connors I think was the one that had Roddick start choking up on his BH grip and help make that shot even worse than it already was which was not an easy assignment.

 

[Tshooter]

That guy that coached Murray for years and later Berdy is underrated. He's a good coach (and he needs new PR; I can't even remember his name. Danny Bonaduce or something like that.) For a long time I watched him around Murray practice sessions and I thought he was just some old childhood friend that Murray liked to have around. I didn't realize he was coaching.

 

[ProStaff forever]

Todd Martin with Djokovic. He played a part in that awful service motion of 2009-2010

Edit: I read the op’s post but Todd was so bad that he deserves a second mention

We should add Pepe Imaz to this list as well, for obvious reasons

Id question the pupil than the teacher, given Todd's serve is sound.

Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk

 

[George Turner]

Can you please expand on this point? I was thinking about this the other day. A lot of the American players I've seen including and since Roddick look so manufactured.

I'd also nominate Thiem's coach for all time worst non-clay court positioning and shot selection.

I would question the coaching system in the states, from them to be incapable of producing major winners suggests something is wrong.

Thiem should get a new coach IMO, he's made no progress at all in 2017. He needs someone with new ideas.

 

[SpinToWin]

Id question the pupil than the teacher, given Todd's serve is sound.

Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk

Uh... You can have the best serve on earth and make a pupil mess up his serve by being **** at communicating (or not knowing what you're actually doing)

 

[ollinger]

Also never cared much for Larry Stefanki as he seemed to alter Roddick's playing style for the worse.

do you mean the Larry Stefanki who coached Rios to number 1 in the world and also coached Gonzo through a fairly successful run? Does that get you nominated for "worst coach"? A lot of people also thought he tried to do good things to change Roddick's overall game, especially as the tour had caught on at that point to Roddick's serve to some extent and was having better success against it.

 

[VaporDude95]

Id question the pupil than the teacher, given Todd's serve is sound.

Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk

True. The pupil has never really had the most sound technique

 

[fedtennisphan]

Can you please expand on this point? I was thinking about this the other day. A lot of the American players I've seen including and since Roddick look so manufactured.

I'd also nominate Thiem's coach for all time worst non-clay court positioning and shot selection.

If you’re going to nominate Thiem’s coach, you can at least know his name: Günter Bresnik. This could have nothing to do with coaching, Thiem could just be overrated. The player has to take some blame too.

 

[ZiggyStardust]

Can you please expand on this point? I was thinking about this the other day. A lot of the American players I've seen including and since Roddick look so manufactured.

I'd also nominate Thiem's coach for all time worst non-clay court positioning and shot selection.

In recent years I feel like every American player is a clone of some weirdly one-dimensional model, or two if you count the Donald Young's and Ryan Harrison's. I have a feeling that this is a result of optimizing for certain qualities that help you dominate the junior and college scene, where everyone is relatively badly rounded. A big serve and a forehand go a very long way in getting you wins there. In particular, I feel like trying to reduce tennis to an NFL like athleticism combine (not that combines are a great predictor of anything for the NFL either) defeats the whole purpose of a coach who is supposed to see the bigger picture and help his protege's make successful pro transitions.
My point about women's tennis is much less thought out, but it always baffles me how Maria Sharapova, a 6'2" multiple grand slam winner with extremely long levers, can get absolutely no mileage out of her serve and often DFs 10 times a match.

Also, Bresnik is not the greatest coach but I doubt one could argue he's the worse. Non-clay court positioning might just be something Thiem's not good at. The thing about court positioning is that it's not just something you can decide to do. You must have the hand skills to deal with the lower margins offered by your aggressive court position.

 

[Sudacafan]

It’s difficult to blame coaches. A more accurate test should be done comparing performances of the same player under two or more coaches.

 

[JRAJ1988]

Jimmy Connors with Sharapova?

 

[Jackuar]

I saw a really interesting stat once which said that Andy Murray's forehand speed increased by 5mph under Lendl's tutelage.

It really makes me curious how much of an impact the coach actually makes to these players.

I really doubt that Andy didn't consider hitting his forehand with more power without Ivan as his coach.

Sometimes, its the little nuances that adds to physical power - so probably Lendl might have altered the swing slightly, the contact points may be, the angle he takes the ball on... that might have made the difference. I'm just guessing things, someone might show the differences in a video or via some nerd stats.

 

[Sudacafan]

My vote for worst coach:
I don’t remember his name, but I’ll go with the one that messed with Coria’s serve, activating his double fault crisis. It was too late when he attempted to come back to his prior serve technique.
As Coria’s case was primarily a mental breakdown, it would not be the coach the only one to blame, but his contribution to the crisis was important.

 

[reaper]

I once heard Sam Stosur's coach tell her to hit her second serve with "Every fibre of your being" mid match. Stosur nodded in enthusiastic agreement but must have been thinking....who is this weirdo?

 

[yokied]

Well isn't Sam Stosur just the embodiment of the principle that grey matter is the most important muscle? She needs to spend more time with a psych and less time in the gym. I'm Australian and with the amount of crap we've had to hear about her, I despise her and her choking far more than I do Kyrgios and Tomic for their tanking. She doesn't really want to be there a lot of the time either IMHO.

 

[George Turner]

Stosur is a female Nadal wanabee.

Nice bis though

 

[Roddick85]

Larry Stefanki for butchering Roddick's game.

Franco Davin with Dimitrov was a terrible combination, actually Dimitrov faired better under Rasheed who gets a lot of critics in this thread.

 

[Tshooter]

...Thiem should get a new coach IMO, he's made no progress at all in 2017. He needs someone with new ideas.

No progress ? He took two sets off the mighty Delpo !

I’m not a coach and I have an old idea. Don’t stand 40 feet behind the baseline to hit a BH a la Rick Gasquet.

 

[tacou]

lol someone mentioned stefanki in this thread..?

 

[Mainsacross]

There was this guy in Japan who played JV tennis in the 70s and one year of community college until he dropped out. He is barely literate and acts like he knows everything and goes around telling people his farcical theories and loses his poop if anyone disagrees with him.

J

The energy vampirism is strong in you. This Halloween are you going in a dracula costume with electric sockets sticking out of your mouth instead of fangs?

 

[ProStaff forever]

Uh... You can have the best serve on earth and make a pupil mess up his serve by being **** at communicating (or not knowing what you're actually doing)

Novak struggles to even do knee serves, isnt that elementary?

Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk

 

[ProStaff forever]

Uh... You can have the best serve on earth and make a pupil mess up his serve by being **** at communicating (or not knowing what you're actually doing)

Novak struggles to even do knee serves, isnt that elementary?

Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk

 

[yokied]

I’m not a coach and I have an old idea. Don’t stand 40 feet behind the baseline to hit a BH a la Rick Gasquet.

Funniest match of the year for me was Thiem Vs Gasquet in Vienna. Not just for the tennis but also those strange lacrosse-style netted racquets they gave to the ballkids.

 

[every7]

Jimmy Connors with Sharapova?

This would get my vote. A spectacular failure, although he didn't get much time to really implement anything.

 

[Mainad]

Well isn't Sam Stosur just the embodiment of the principle that grey matter is the most important muscle? She needs to spend more time with a psych and less time in the gym. I'm Australian and with the amount of crap we've had to hear about her, I despise her and her choking far more than I do Kyrgios and Tomic for their tanking. She doesn't really want to be there a lot of the time either IMHO.

All the same, she will always have the 2011 US Open with victory over Serena in the final. What have Kyrgios and Tomic done (or will do) to compare with that?

 

[Mainad]

This would get my vote. A spectacular failure, although he didn't get much time to really implement anything.

You can say that again!!!

 

[yokied]

All the same, she will always have the 2011 US Open with victory over Serena in the final. What have Kyrgios and Tomic done (or will do) to compare with that?

Nothing. Good point. I guess choking is a higher art than tanking.

 

[Gary Duane]

Honourable mention to Roger Rasheed. As a fitness coach and positive thinking coach probably alright but as a pure tennis coach he has a low cap. Listening to some of this theories which are basically push and run I don't think he has the tennis knowledge to get beyond a point. He reads into the stats theories that are incorrect, like get a third ball in play and you will win. That only works when your in a dominant position. Pushing to any top 10 will result in loss. Winning the last point of the match also tends to make champions but does not mean you ignore those points in between. He tempers a players natural firepower in favour of defence or high percentage tennis. All players in today's game are aggressively looking to get into a dominant position, players like Ferrer might not have the firepower to go clean winners but his aim is still to hit a deep ball with lots of kick driving the opponent back so that they respond with a short ball. Even the runners like Chang are always looking to get into position to attach a short ball, he's not playing neutral. Nadal is trying for a neutral return, not a defensive return, neutral and defensive are different. If Rasheed got hold of Federer he'd have him slice everything to the back hand and temper the 1st serve, never see him attack the net.
Some players especially those with poor exercise and fitness may benefit from his coaching. Maybe those with lots of self doubt or disinterest might also as he's a committed man. But he should not be coaching anyone looking to be Top 50 as a pure coach.

Besides everything you mentioned I absolutely can't stand the man. He's full of himself.

 

[GregN]

Roger Rasheed, has coached a heap of good players, but I personally think he hasn't got a clue about tennis, fitness maybe, tennis no. I am thinking he is not coaching anyone at the moment which is unfortunate for us Australians because it probably means he'll be in the TV commentary box again come this summer, which from my point of view is more painful than going to the dentist.

 

[Shank Volley]

I have absolutely no evidence to support this view but I've always seen Serena Williams' coach as making absolutely no contribution to her game. He just sits there thinking up ways to make money out of the fact that Serena likes him enough to keep him around. This isn't intended as any criticism of Serena, but she doesn't exactly play with any particular game plan. Smack winners off the return, hit the ball hard. She's just so much better than everyone else there's no need.

The only time I can remember her having done something distinctly different was the Australian Open final against Kerber, with all that net rushing that totally backfired. Was that her coach's idea?