To Tito Vasquez, James Trotman, Martin Bohm, Peter Fleming, Mike Raphael and Peter Lundgren, we can now add the name of Brad Gilbert. For those struggling to spot the link, they are coaches, past, present and future, of Alex Bogdanovic, the British No 2, who has won nine of his 34 career ATP Tour matches and has earned $106,880 (about £52,000) in 2007, a year in which his ranking fell from No 123 to No 161. It is no wonder that the negotiations to keep Gilbert at the LTA lasted as long as they did.
Given that it was widely rumoured on Friday evening that the American was packing his bags, taking his payoff and departing from British tennis after 16 months that cost the sport here a cool £1 million, it was remarkable that yesterday should come the announcement that he was staying – for 20 weeks, during which he will also coach Bogdanovic - with the only comment on the levels of compensation coming from Roger Draper, the LTA chief executive.
“We have reduced the financial burden,” Draper revealed. “We don’t discuss salaries. We just want to get the very best people and when you do that, things get taken out of all proportion. The compensation comes with freeing up Brad’s time. That was the big issue with him.”
Having had eight months lopped off his original three-year contract, and his work in 2008 reduced from 40 weeks, it could be said that the American, 45, has got his way.
It is all a far cry from when Gilbert was brought in on a king’s ransom to guide Andy Murray into the highest bracket of stars while occupying the rest of his limited time improving the standards of those coaches who may aspire to their own well-paid sinecure one day. With the British No 1, he was undoubtedly a success in ranking and aspirational terms, although the pair had long since grown tired of each other’s company.
When Murray decided that he wanted out of the relationship, the LTA was left in a desperate pickle. Should it cut its ties with Gilbert completely - which is what most people imagined would happen - or should it make him see out his contract, which would have meant keeping an unhappy, restless man, or come to a compromise, the halfway-house arrangement they reached yesterday?
“The main thing is to keep a positive relationship with people,” Draper said. “Whenever people have parted company with us in recent times (and more employees were being shown the door last week) there is always acrimony, but we are trying to move British tennis forward. We want Andy to be successful and inspire the next batch of players to get into the top 100 before the next wave comes along.”
Draper said that Gilbert had “taken on the challenge of getting [Alex] Bogdanovic into the top 100 and starting to fulfil his potential” - and yet it was only last month that the American was quoted as saying that, “The worst thing a coach can do is set something which is unrealistic.” It is a word that resounds ever more clearly with each passing week. It was, surely, unrealistic to think that the clashing of egos between Gilbert and Murray would survive three years; unrealistic to think that Gilbert, a Californian to his Golden State roots, would have British tennis at heart if it were not for his considerable remuneration. And it is utterly unreal to keep suggesting that a new batch of saviours is waiting in the wings, rackets at the ready to smash the ramparts of the sport.
Murray, remember, has not been beyond the fourth round of a grand-slam tournament. Roger Federer was 19 when he vaulted that barrier at the 2001 French Open, and the world No 1 said yesterday: “Murray has had a breakthrough year. He would have easily been at the Masters [Cup] had it not been for injuries, but now he has to take that next important step which is to reach a grand-slam quarter-final. When you are young, that can prey on your mind, but once you have reached a quarter-final, a lot of the pressure is off you. I’m interested to see who Murray is going to pick.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article2896580.ece
Given that it was widely rumoured on Friday evening that the American was packing his bags, taking his payoff and departing from British tennis after 16 months that cost the sport here a cool £1 million, it was remarkable that yesterday should come the announcement that he was staying – for 20 weeks, during which he will also coach Bogdanovic - with the only comment on the levels of compensation coming from Roger Draper, the LTA chief executive.
“We have reduced the financial burden,” Draper revealed. “We don’t discuss salaries. We just want to get the very best people and when you do that, things get taken out of all proportion. The compensation comes with freeing up Brad’s time. That was the big issue with him.”
Having had eight months lopped off his original three-year contract, and his work in 2008 reduced from 40 weeks, it could be said that the American, 45, has got his way.
It is all a far cry from when Gilbert was brought in on a king’s ransom to guide Andy Murray into the highest bracket of stars while occupying the rest of his limited time improving the standards of those coaches who may aspire to their own well-paid sinecure one day. With the British No 1, he was undoubtedly a success in ranking and aspirational terms, although the pair had long since grown tired of each other’s company.
When Murray decided that he wanted out of the relationship, the LTA was left in a desperate pickle. Should it cut its ties with Gilbert completely - which is what most people imagined would happen - or should it make him see out his contract, which would have meant keeping an unhappy, restless man, or come to a compromise, the halfway-house arrangement they reached yesterday?
“The main thing is to keep a positive relationship with people,” Draper said. “Whenever people have parted company with us in recent times (and more employees were being shown the door last week) there is always acrimony, but we are trying to move British tennis forward. We want Andy to be successful and inspire the next batch of players to get into the top 100 before the next wave comes along.”
Draper said that Gilbert had “taken on the challenge of getting [Alex] Bogdanovic into the top 100 and starting to fulfil his potential” - and yet it was only last month that the American was quoted as saying that, “The worst thing a coach can do is set something which is unrealistic.” It is a word that resounds ever more clearly with each passing week. It was, surely, unrealistic to think that the clashing of egos between Gilbert and Murray would survive three years; unrealistic to think that Gilbert, a Californian to his Golden State roots, would have British tennis at heart if it were not for his considerable remuneration. And it is utterly unreal to keep suggesting that a new batch of saviours is waiting in the wings, rackets at the ready to smash the ramparts of the sport.
Murray, remember, has not been beyond the fourth round of a grand-slam tournament. Roger Federer was 19 when he vaulted that barrier at the 2001 French Open, and the world No 1 said yesterday: “Murray has had a breakthrough year. He would have easily been at the Masters [Cup] had it not been for injuries, but now he has to take that next important step which is to reach a grand-slam quarter-final. When you are young, that can prey on your mind, but once you have reached a quarter-final, a lot of the pressure is off you. I’m interested to see who Murray is going to pick.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article2896580.ece
