French coaches

[sureshs]

US does not have a strong Federation system in tennis like Canada, France, or China. People will say it is socialism and best to leave it to private sector along with some quasi-government supervision, like USTA.

 

[Raul_SJ]

I read a recent article on the rise of Canadian tennis and one of the reasons attributed to it was the Federation's decision to bring in French coaches and give them free rein, including constructing new red clay courts.

Apart from the obvious French connection to Canada, the main reason seems to have been the belief that French Federation coaches are technically the best in the world. It is quite telling that the Canadians did not go with US coaches next door, LTA coaches, or even the famed Spanish coaches.

Canada has close cultural ties to France. Cannot read anything into the fact that Canada chose French coaches over U.S. or Spanish coaches.
It is likely just political... Many of those French coaches might even have been trained in and advocate other systems like the Spanish system.
As other posts mentioned, it is not clear what the French system is... French system may be more of an organizational and funding/support structure rather than any meaningful difference in on-court teaching methodology.

 

[sureshs]

Canada has close cultural ties to France. Cannot read anything into the fact that Canada chose French coaches over U.S. or Spanish coaches.
It is likely just political... Many of those French coaches might even have been trained in and advocate other systems like the Spanish system.
As other posts mentioned, it is not clear what the French system is... French system may be more of an organizational and funding/support structure rather than any meaningful difference in on-court teaching methodology.

They emphasize clay, just like Spain.

 

[Curiosity]

And Amelie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce have won many Slams

Marion Bartoli one a major. She was coached by her father. I assume he is French.
I think we have clarified that French women are more interesting than French men. Is this the reason so many French women leave France. Just a matter of curiosity.

 

[G&G]

Canada has close cultural ties to France. Cannot read anything into the fact that Canada chose French coaches over U.S. or Spanish coaches.
It is likely just political... Many of those French coaches might even have been trained in and advocate other systems like the Spanish system.
As other posts mentioned, it is not clear what the French system is... French system may be more of an organizational and funding/support structure rather than any meaningful difference in on-court teaching methodology.

French system definitely has very good organizational and support structure, but not only this. As I previously mentioned, their juniors have very good technical and tactical skills. The technic is more or less the same of these young players. They all have something in common, while juniors from other countries (like Russians, Romanians, Germans and etc.) differ from each other. You can also notice that all Czechs have something similar but esthetically French players look better. But it doesn’t mean that results are necessary better because of that. Bartoli’s play looks like mess, but who cares? She is the Wimbledon Champion.

I read an interview with the Spanish coach about Spanish system, so he mentioned that the best students come from France, as they are all well technically prepared and the focus is usually on other aspects of the game rather than technic.

 

[Ash_Smith]

I read an interview with the Spanish coach about Spanish system, so he mentioned that the best students come from France, as they are all well technically prepared and the focus is usually on other aspects of the game rather than technic.

I was literally just about to come and write this (was it me you read it from )

The FFT coach education system has historically been technically focussed and in my dealings with coaches who were trained by the FFT I would say they all have an excellent technical knowledge. That's not to say that technique focus is the only way to go, but it is the way they chose to go for their coach education system. Other countries take a different path, or in some cases try to focus on all areas (which is pretty much the same as focussing on none of them).

 

[sureshs]

What about LTA coaches?

 

[Ash_Smith]

What about LTA coaches?

What about them?

Do you mean coaches who work for the LTA or coaches who have come through the LTA Coach Education programme?

The LTA coach education programme is pretty well revered around the world because it strikes a reasonable balance across all areas of knowledge required to be a coach and it is very well structured. It doesn't particularly specialise on one specific area - it's more broad brush until level 4 and 5 where you can diverge into Club or Performance strands. This has advantages and disadvantages (just like any other approach).

 

[sureshs]

What about them?

Do you mean coaches who work for the LTA or coaches who have come through the LTA Coach Education programme?

The LTA coach education programme is pretty well revered around the world because it strikes a reasonable balance across all areas of knowledge required to be a coach and it is very well structured. It doesn't particularly specialise on one specific area - it's more broad brush until level 4 and 5 where you can diverge into Club or Performance strands. This has advantages and disadvantages (just like any other approach).

I meant whether coaches who work for LTA were considered by Canada since it is part of the Commonwealth with the cultural ties.

 

[Ash_Smith]

I meant whether coaches who work for LTA were considered by Canada since it is part of the Commonwealth with the cultural ties.

I just called Canada, they said yes they were considered...

 

[sureshs]

Why does Europe dominate the Laver Cup, and men's tennis at large? | Tennis.com

Even if The World manages to win their first Laver Cup this weekend, the Europe appears set to keep conquering the world of men’s tennis for the foreseeable future.

www.tennis.com

—Talent pool: The higher level of interest in tennis in Europe, compared to the U.S., may mean that a higher percentage of promising young athletes choose the sport.

—Coaching: When Patrick McEnroe announced his departure as head of USTA player development a few years ago, he cited “coaching education” as the most important aspect of the U.S. game that needed to be improved. Knowledgeable observers say there’s higher standard of expertise for coaches in Europe, and what’s happening in Canada right now might bear that out. Since hiring the former head of France’s junior development program, Louis Borfiga, Canada has had a surge of success, which peaked this month with Bianca Andreescu’s win at the US Open.

—Surface: The baseline game that was once the exclusive province of clay is now played on every type of court. That seems to give Europeans, who are more likely to play on clay as kids, a leg up in learning the patience and point construction that’s needed to succeed everywhere today. American men, meanwhile, mostly write off the two-month clay season and the ranking points that come with it.

—Mindset: European players, who speak multiple languages and cross national borders regularly, seem to adapt more easily to the disorientingly international nature of tennis. Medvedev, of Russia, made his breakthrough in the foreign lands of Washington, D.C. and Mason, Ohio, and he played the New York crowd like a fiddle during the Open. By contrast, the highest-ranked player in the U.S, John Isner, has won 14 of his 15 career titles on home soil.

 

[heninfan99]

Medvedev has a French coach.

 

[GBplayer]

My understanding is that the French players are taught every shot, which is great. They all can serve, volley, backhand, etc to whatever degree. However of the players just mentioned I can't think of a shot any of them have that scares their opponents. Sure Gasquet has a backhand, but how many majors has he won? Tsonga has a good serve, but he's only been to 1 slam final. Monfils is a great showman, but what does that get him? If these French coaches are going to teach the Canadian players the same things then I'm not going to expect a whole lot from them either. It seems like they all need to be taught a killer instinct or something that would propel them into the upper echelons of the sport.

A Canadian girl recently beat an American girl in a grand slam I seem to recall.

 

[mainmain]

Why does Europe dominate the Laver Cup, and men's tennis at large? | Tennis.com

Even if The World manages to win their first Laver Cup this weekend, the Europe appears set to keep conquering the world of men’s tennis for the foreseeable future.

www.tennis.com

—Talent pool: [...]

—Coaching: [...].

—Surface: [...]

—Mindset: [...].

interesting ! and what about healthiness / fitness / general morphology ? We eat half as much meat as you do (kids or adults), less fat, are generally less interested in having big muscles, tend to work out for a reason justified by other sports more than cosmetics and looks, etc. As a result, we are maybe, in average, more suitably built for this gentleman's sport. The features that I cited can occur in other ethnicities but maybe european type do have the right mix of height, explosive muscle quality, and/or whatever.
I know this is rude and I am half-joking but as usual with rudeness this is certainly half true .

OK and now I'm gonna get badly bashed... I am starting right now an in-depth search in scientific literature in hope of justifying my infamous words .

 

[Digital Atheist]

Your list is misleading as it does not show clay performance. The French and Spanish systems emphasize clay. They believe that clay builds a player who is all-round the best.

I get the argument given there are fewer clay tournaments, but if the above is correct then wouldn't that still be reflected in overall rankings?