Kevin Patrick
Hall of Fame
This isn't the complete interview but some of what I found interesting(it seems like Gilbert could be quite tiresome after a while)
Tennis Week: I want to ask you about Brad Gilbert in light of Roddick’s recent dismissal of him. What are Brad’s strengths and weaknesses as a coach?
Mike Agassi: Brad is a constant talker, you know. If you can sit and listen to him continuously, after a while, he repeats himself. If you can take it, he’s OK. But if you cannot take it, then it’s annoying. Myself, I had such a little problem with Brad. He used to work with Andre’s serve. He would tell Andre to serve 115 miles an hour to the T then next serve, the second serve, would be 92 miles an hour wide to the backhand. From 115 you go to 92, I would say try to between five to nine mile differences in the serves. Brad is a good talker. He always had answers. He once told me: "Everybody is two or three inches taller than Andre, that’s why they serve that big." I said: "Then here is a racquet two inches longer and it’s gonna give Andre a longer reach.". And his answer was: "Yeah, he’s gonna have a better serve, but he’s gonna lose seven and a half percent of his forehand and nine and a half percent on his backhand." And once you listen to someone and believe in him, then you believe in him. That’s the way it works.
Tennis Week: Roddick’s still number two in the world, so it's not like he's had a dramatic drop in results, but if you could coach Roddick what would you tell him?
Mike Agassi: If you talk to him, let me tell you what you say to him: forget about the 150 mile an hour serve, forget about the 140 mile an hour serve. Serve 130 mile an hour first serve on the corners and serve a 122, 123, 124 mile an hour second serve hitting the corners and I’ll bet you if he served 130 mile an hour first serve a lot more are going to go in, but he can place it better. People are acing each other with 115, 120 mile an hour serve so you need to use your placement and not just go for the fast serve all the time.
Tennis Week: Do you see anyone out there who can challenge Roger Federer, long-term, for No. 1?
Mike Agassi: There is a (player) who needs to be able to serve and volley, not necessarily serve and volley together, but they need to serve and be able to come in and put away the volley during the point. For instance, if someone out there had the game Sampras used to have, he had the first and second serve almost the same speed and he placed them so well in both corners. And his first volley was very effective, so if someone had that game they could do it (challenge Federer). But the way it goes, everybody knows he’s gonna lose before they play Federer so it’s like they give up before they go play the guy. He only loses when he doesn’t play his best and the other guy plays over his head.
Tennis Week: The last time you and I spoke you said Federer was proving something you always said: that a champion doesn’t need a coach to be successful. Do you believe Federer can continue to dominate the game without a coach?
Mike Agassi: Can I ask you a question?
Tennis Week: Sure.
Mike Agassi: What is your job?
Tennis Week: Journalist.
Mike Agassi: Do you need a coach to do your journalist job?
Tennis Week: No, but I get a lot of unwanted coaching at home anyway.
Mike Agassi: Let me say one thing: if a person does not have a coach then he needs to have enough time to study the tapes himself. You follow me? He has to study his game and other people’s games. When I learned tennis, I didn’t learn tennis because someone told me how to hit the ball. I watched and I took one point from this player, one point from that player and one point from the other player and I put that together and I made a package gift for Andre. You follow me?
Tennis Week: Yes, you took the best quality from each player you saw and passed it on to Andre.
Mike Agassi: I taught Andre to take the ball on the rise because I saw Boris Becker once do that. I taught Andre to hit swing volleys because I once saw Lendl do that. He did that once in a year or two years, it was very rare, but he did do that. I saw players hit the inside out forehand and I did that with Andre. Play inside the court, I did that with Andre. Go to the ball and pick up the ball on the rise, I did that with Andre. Get on the guy’s serve with a short back swing on your return, I did that with Andre. Once in a while, players will do something that they don’t know they just did. They don’t realize it. And if you’re outside the court and you can study the game and see that and you can work on it the kid becomes a hell of a player.
Tennis Week: Do you see any player out there whose style reminds you of Andre? You know, who can take the ball early, take command from the baseline, punish returns?
Mike Agassi: Rios was like that. He reminds me of Andre and in one way he was something better than Andre: you couldn’t read his contact point and direction of the ball. Do you know the beauty of a mirror? If you throw light at a mirror at five degrees, then the light comes back five degrees the other side, correct? Now if the ball comes at your hand and if you meet the ball with an angle on the racquet then they cannot read your shot and where the ball is coming. Do you know what I’m talking about? Do you understand?
Tennis Week: Yeah, I understand what you’re saying. You’re saying the angle of the racquet face can be deceptive to the opponent and make it tougher to read the shot?
Mike Agassi: Yes, you can change the angle of the racquet head, some players. But if Roddick hits the ball crosscourt, before he hits, you know he’s hitting crosscourt. If you have the same swing and you meet the ball with the angle, then the guy crosscourt cannot read if you’re going to his backhand or forehand.
Tennis Week: Yeah, but that takes incredible timing and technique to do that.
Mike Agassi: Yeah, listen the guys who can do it are making a hell of a lot of money. You wanna do that? Go work on it. That’s what you have to work on it. My practice was the ball machine. I couldn’t give him 5,000 balls like that. I would put the ball machine on serve and ask Andre to change the direction on his return without telegraphing where the ball was going.
Tennis Week: How many balls would Andre hit a every day when he was growing up, training with you in the backyard?
Mike Agassi: I had somewhere around 60 garbage cans and there were around 300 balls in each garbage can and he would go through many of those garbage cans each day. Maybe 3,000 to sometimes 5,000 balls he used to hit.
Tennis Week: When did you know "My son is going to be something special. He’s going to be one of the best in the world?"
Mike Agassi: When he was two or three years old. When he was three and a half years old he gave a hell of an exhibition with Bobby Riggs. Then when he was four or five years old, he was playing with Jimmy Connors, Roscoe Tanner, Brian Gottfried, Vitas Gerulaitis, Panatta. You name it, he probably played with them. All those pros, when they used to come through Las Vegas, they’d say "Where is Andre? Where is Andre?"
Tennis Week: If you were coaching Venus and Serena what would you do? I believe in Serena's game; what would you do to help her get back to the top?
Mike Agassi: I would love to have them both over my house. Let me ask you a question: why is the depth of men's tennis so great? The guy who is 112 in the world can beat the guy who is number 3 in the world, right?
Tennis Week: Right. Federer's losses were all to guys outside the top 10 this year.
Mike Agassi: Why? Because they always practice against men and they hit the championship ball the men hit and therefore they are used to the pace of the top 10 men and they can return their ball. I was talking with Serena's father and I said: "the reason your daughters are losing is because they are practicing with men." With the men, they hit the big shot that would be the winner against the women, but the men return it. You hit the big serve and the man returns, hit bigger and the men still returns it. You try to hit bigger and bigger until the ball goes out. Then you lose your serve and you lose your confidence. You hit crosscourt big ball and the man is going to return it, you hit another big ball and the man returns it again and the third ball you try to hit even bigger and it goes out. Why? Because you are muscling it. That's the way your game goes down. Their game has gone down. They hit, once in a while, great balls, but their game has gone down a bit. The Russian girls compete against each other and you see Russian girls win three of the four Grand Slams this year. They are absolutely not half of the talent of Serena Williams and Venus Williams. Serena Williams and Venus Williams don't have their confidence on their shots anymore.
Tennis Week: But doesn't that confidence come from success on the court? Winning matches gives you confidence, right? So what's the solution?
Mike Agassi: Stop practicing with the men. Serena and Venus, stop practicing with the men. Most of our American girls think if they practice with the men, he's a better player, then I'll get better. In some ways, yes, you get better playing with the better player. But you have to hit the ball — not just the big ball, but other shots (angles) — to see if the women can return it or not. I would like to see them play one women, Serena or Venus, against too good players on the other side in practice. Practice against two of them and if you can make the point against two good women then you can make the point against any of these girls in the world. I have told Andre and Brad Gilbert a hundred times: play one against two to improve your volley, but no, Brad Gilbert goes there and hits against Andre. I said: "Brad, if you were good enough to play against Andre, you would go on the tour and make more money." He always had answers. He hit one ball, he talks 10 minutes. He hit one ball, he talks 10 minutes. Then in two hours, Andre has only hit 30 balls.
more at:
http://www.sportsmediainc.com/tenni...howarticle&newsid=11893&bannerregion=
Tennis Week: I want to ask you about Brad Gilbert in light of Roddick’s recent dismissal of him. What are Brad’s strengths and weaknesses as a coach?
Mike Agassi: Brad is a constant talker, you know. If you can sit and listen to him continuously, after a while, he repeats himself. If you can take it, he’s OK. But if you cannot take it, then it’s annoying. Myself, I had such a little problem with Brad. He used to work with Andre’s serve. He would tell Andre to serve 115 miles an hour to the T then next serve, the second serve, would be 92 miles an hour wide to the backhand. From 115 you go to 92, I would say try to between five to nine mile differences in the serves. Brad is a good talker. He always had answers. He once told me: "Everybody is two or three inches taller than Andre, that’s why they serve that big." I said: "Then here is a racquet two inches longer and it’s gonna give Andre a longer reach.". And his answer was: "Yeah, he’s gonna have a better serve, but he’s gonna lose seven and a half percent of his forehand and nine and a half percent on his backhand." And once you listen to someone and believe in him, then you believe in him. That’s the way it works.
Tennis Week: Roddick’s still number two in the world, so it's not like he's had a dramatic drop in results, but if you could coach Roddick what would you tell him?
Mike Agassi: If you talk to him, let me tell you what you say to him: forget about the 150 mile an hour serve, forget about the 140 mile an hour serve. Serve 130 mile an hour first serve on the corners and serve a 122, 123, 124 mile an hour second serve hitting the corners and I’ll bet you if he served 130 mile an hour first serve a lot more are going to go in, but he can place it better. People are acing each other with 115, 120 mile an hour serve so you need to use your placement and not just go for the fast serve all the time.
Tennis Week: Do you see anyone out there who can challenge Roger Federer, long-term, for No. 1?
Mike Agassi: There is a (player) who needs to be able to serve and volley, not necessarily serve and volley together, but they need to serve and be able to come in and put away the volley during the point. For instance, if someone out there had the game Sampras used to have, he had the first and second serve almost the same speed and he placed them so well in both corners. And his first volley was very effective, so if someone had that game they could do it (challenge Federer). But the way it goes, everybody knows he’s gonna lose before they play Federer so it’s like they give up before they go play the guy. He only loses when he doesn’t play his best and the other guy plays over his head.
Tennis Week: The last time you and I spoke you said Federer was proving something you always said: that a champion doesn’t need a coach to be successful. Do you believe Federer can continue to dominate the game without a coach?
Mike Agassi: Can I ask you a question?
Tennis Week: Sure.
Mike Agassi: What is your job?
Tennis Week: Journalist.
Mike Agassi: Do you need a coach to do your journalist job?
Tennis Week: No, but I get a lot of unwanted coaching at home anyway.
Mike Agassi: Let me say one thing: if a person does not have a coach then he needs to have enough time to study the tapes himself. You follow me? He has to study his game and other people’s games. When I learned tennis, I didn’t learn tennis because someone told me how to hit the ball. I watched and I took one point from this player, one point from that player and one point from the other player and I put that together and I made a package gift for Andre. You follow me?
Tennis Week: Yes, you took the best quality from each player you saw and passed it on to Andre.
Mike Agassi: I taught Andre to take the ball on the rise because I saw Boris Becker once do that. I taught Andre to hit swing volleys because I once saw Lendl do that. He did that once in a year or two years, it was very rare, but he did do that. I saw players hit the inside out forehand and I did that with Andre. Play inside the court, I did that with Andre. Go to the ball and pick up the ball on the rise, I did that with Andre. Get on the guy’s serve with a short back swing on your return, I did that with Andre. Once in a while, players will do something that they don’t know they just did. They don’t realize it. And if you’re outside the court and you can study the game and see that and you can work on it the kid becomes a hell of a player.
Tennis Week: Do you see any player out there whose style reminds you of Andre? You know, who can take the ball early, take command from the baseline, punish returns?
Mike Agassi: Rios was like that. He reminds me of Andre and in one way he was something better than Andre: you couldn’t read his contact point and direction of the ball. Do you know the beauty of a mirror? If you throw light at a mirror at five degrees, then the light comes back five degrees the other side, correct? Now if the ball comes at your hand and if you meet the ball with an angle on the racquet then they cannot read your shot and where the ball is coming. Do you know what I’m talking about? Do you understand?
Tennis Week: Yeah, I understand what you’re saying. You’re saying the angle of the racquet face can be deceptive to the opponent and make it tougher to read the shot?
Mike Agassi: Yes, you can change the angle of the racquet head, some players. But if Roddick hits the ball crosscourt, before he hits, you know he’s hitting crosscourt. If you have the same swing and you meet the ball with the angle, then the guy crosscourt cannot read if you’re going to his backhand or forehand.
Tennis Week: Yeah, but that takes incredible timing and technique to do that.
Mike Agassi: Yeah, listen the guys who can do it are making a hell of a lot of money. You wanna do that? Go work on it. That’s what you have to work on it. My practice was the ball machine. I couldn’t give him 5,000 balls like that. I would put the ball machine on serve and ask Andre to change the direction on his return without telegraphing where the ball was going.
Tennis Week: How many balls would Andre hit a every day when he was growing up, training with you in the backyard?
Mike Agassi: I had somewhere around 60 garbage cans and there were around 300 balls in each garbage can and he would go through many of those garbage cans each day. Maybe 3,000 to sometimes 5,000 balls he used to hit.
Tennis Week: When did you know "My son is going to be something special. He’s going to be one of the best in the world?"
Mike Agassi: When he was two or three years old. When he was three and a half years old he gave a hell of an exhibition with Bobby Riggs. Then when he was four or five years old, he was playing with Jimmy Connors, Roscoe Tanner, Brian Gottfried, Vitas Gerulaitis, Panatta. You name it, he probably played with them. All those pros, when they used to come through Las Vegas, they’d say "Where is Andre? Where is Andre?"
Tennis Week: If you were coaching Venus and Serena what would you do? I believe in Serena's game; what would you do to help her get back to the top?
Mike Agassi: I would love to have them both over my house. Let me ask you a question: why is the depth of men's tennis so great? The guy who is 112 in the world can beat the guy who is number 3 in the world, right?
Tennis Week: Right. Federer's losses were all to guys outside the top 10 this year.
Mike Agassi: Why? Because they always practice against men and they hit the championship ball the men hit and therefore they are used to the pace of the top 10 men and they can return their ball. I was talking with Serena's father and I said: "the reason your daughters are losing is because they are practicing with men." With the men, they hit the big shot that would be the winner against the women, but the men return it. You hit the big serve and the man returns, hit bigger and the men still returns it. You try to hit bigger and bigger until the ball goes out. Then you lose your serve and you lose your confidence. You hit crosscourt big ball and the man is going to return it, you hit another big ball and the man returns it again and the third ball you try to hit even bigger and it goes out. Why? Because you are muscling it. That's the way your game goes down. Their game has gone down. They hit, once in a while, great balls, but their game has gone down a bit. The Russian girls compete against each other and you see Russian girls win three of the four Grand Slams this year. They are absolutely not half of the talent of Serena Williams and Venus Williams. Serena Williams and Venus Williams don't have their confidence on their shots anymore.
Tennis Week: But doesn't that confidence come from success on the court? Winning matches gives you confidence, right? So what's the solution?
Mike Agassi: Stop practicing with the men. Serena and Venus, stop practicing with the men. Most of our American girls think if they practice with the men, he's a better player, then I'll get better. In some ways, yes, you get better playing with the better player. But you have to hit the ball — not just the big ball, but other shots (angles) — to see if the women can return it or not. I would like to see them play one women, Serena or Venus, against too good players on the other side in practice. Practice against two of them and if you can make the point against two good women then you can make the point against any of these girls in the world. I have told Andre and Brad Gilbert a hundred times: play one against two to improve your volley, but no, Brad Gilbert goes there and hits against Andre. I said: "Brad, if you were good enough to play against Andre, you would go on the tour and make more money." He always had answers. He hit one ball, he talks 10 minutes. He hit one ball, he talks 10 minutes. Then in two hours, Andre has only hit 30 balls.
more at:
http://www.sportsmediainc.com/tenni...howarticle&newsid=11893&bannerregion=
