Founders of CAtennis.com
Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 01:00AM CAtennis Ini Ghidirmic
Ini Ghidirmic is currently a business transactions attorney with Slovak Baron & Empey LLP but still enjoys working with developing juniors. Ini grew up in Romania where he learned to play tennis in a coal cellar by hitting against a backboard built by his dad. In 1990, Ini and his family emigrated to Michigan where he continued to hone his tennis skills on the ball machine at Chippewa Racquet Club. Ini was a California boys highschool CIF individual/team champion (1995), a junior college individual/team state champion (1996 College of the Desert) as well as a Fresno State Bulldog (1996-1997) and Pepperdine Wave (1998-2000). Ini spent 3 months on "the tour" and obtained a career high world ranking (ATP) of 835. He also finished 2000 as the No. 1 SoCal Men's Open player. His best professional singles wins include: Mardy Fish (ATP high #17); Dmitry Tursunov (ATP high #20); Raemon Sluiter (ATP high #46); Ronald Agenor (ATP high #22); Phil King (ATP high #286); and Ivica Ancic (ATP high #378). Some of his best college wins include: Peter Luczak (ATP high #64; Fresno State); Matt Breen (ATP high #249; UCLA); and Jack Brasington (ATP #125; Texas). Ini coaches Elena Bovina (#14 WTA high) and helped Maria Sanchez climb from #650 WTA to #220 from February 2012 to June 2012.
Video Contributor and Director of Video Production:
Karl Rosenstock
Karl is currently the official tennis X-mo cam videographer for USC Tennis and a Video Contributor and Director of Video Production for CAtennis.com where he provides video content (Karl's Korner) and articles. These days, Karl is most well known as the "tennis slow mo guy" insofar as he provides X-Mo cam high speed videography for tennis coaching and keepsake purposes for college tennis, tennis clubs and tennis tournaments. Karl provides on-court X-Mo video for West Nott during coaching sessions with rising star player, Maria Sanchez. Karl has been a USPTA tennis teaching professional and professional television producer. He has specialties in producing, multi camera studio production and directing, lighting design and studio and remote camera operation. He is certified in AVID editing and has been a long time member of the Bay Area Video Coalition. Karl has pioneered the use of multiple video cameras on court during match play for motion studies - compilation montages created to illuminate progressions of play for coaching purposes in addition to the use of hi-res sequential photos for tennis shotmaking studies. He is also a trained artist and has studied art technique from an early age with a variety of mentors in both New York and California and creates tennis related graphite and watercolor pencil drawings. Karl's latest project is to make drawings of historically important players from the past.
Reader Comments (41)
Nice work gentlemen.
Thank you. If you would like to contribute any articles, suggestions or ideas, we would sincerely appreciate your input.
Very, very good stuff. Thank you for shining that light and KEEP IT COMING. Sometimes things need to be said in order for positve change to occur. Or something like that. :)
Great info. Thanks!
Hi, I'm a friend and student of Dan Wilman and Mike Calkins up in Seattle and I love the concept of creating a forum for sharing ideas about tennis. I have an article idea for you about how tennis players can work on evaluating and building their concentration and focus skills using a simple daily routine and also an exercise, specifically, the Concentration Number Grid. I first started using this exercise years ago after a sports psychologist who works with Olympic ahtletes recommended it to me. Later I learned that many athletes employ the Grid, and some, such as Roy Doc Halladay, the Cy Young winning pitcher who recently pitched a perfect game for the Phillies is a devoted user before he starts. Others have told me Nick Bolletierri employs the grid as well working with clients. I've learned a lot about how I concentrate and have made some adjustments to my approach as a result. It's a great tool for evaluating how you concentrate and learning how environments and distractions help or hinder your performance. My friends and I are all athletes with a background in high tech so after using the grid on paper, we created an iphone/ipad APP for the grid called FocusUp. It's available Free in the itunes store right now and we have an Android version nearly completed and plans for a Pro version with more features.
Mental Fitness is often a neglected part of an athlete's training. Yet building positive visualizations, extending attention spans, learning how to quiet the mind and focus only on the shot are all essential to success. A few minutes of work on this every day can make a world of difference and isn't hard when you have an app like FocusUp.You can read all about FocusUp and the background of how this grid has been used for decades by athletes at our web site. www.flyingsofa.com
I would be happy to talk with you more about how to share this information through an article I could write or help with about mental toughness training for sports using tools such as FocusUp and the concentration grid, as well as audio programs such as Craig Townsend's Mind Training for Tennis all in about 10 minutes a day.to enhance their mental toughness for sports using tools such as FocusUp and the concentration number grid. let me know what you think and thanks again for your feedback and checking out what we've done. We are looking for feedback on how to make the product better as we work on new versions.
Susan, thank you for the note. Yes, we would love to talk more about this subject with you. If you email your number to us (catenniseditor@gmail.com) one of is will call you. Thank you. This is exactly what we're looking for.
just heard on tennis channel today (8/7/13) - this week, first time since 1973 - no American men are in the top 20 ATP rankings. I think this speaks to our tennis training methods and teaching pros and USTA junior system here in the USA for the last 10 years - what are we doing wrong in the USA? can we admit we are doing something wrong? maybe an idea for an article
Good idea.. We more or less covered it but it comes down to parenting not so much coaching. Coaches can't create lions out of lambs. In US it's almost shameful for a parent to admit that s/he wants the kid to be a top pro. So they gun for college (50% of the way to the top) while they hope to be the kid's BFF.. It doesn't work that way anymore. Tennis is a global business and the career training starts when you're 5-6... US players half-a$$ it for 7-8 years an then scramble to make up for lost time. Parents ruin most kids' ability to succeed.
Hmmm, parenting problem? Sounds like this was written by a coach - perhaps a combined parenting/coaching problem, leaning more toward coaching problem. Parents here deal out huge amounts of money to some of these $49,000 per year academies hoping to get a touring prize money winning player out of it, not to get partial scholarship worth 20 percent of what they actually paid out over many years of training. Parents are paying but the USA training does not seem to work on the international stage. Why?
Parents in US always think they know better than the coach. They want their kids to be trained this way or that way. Some think that because they're specialists in one field that they are ipso facto experts at everything. Find a good coach, communicate your goals clearly, and let the coach do his/her job. If you don't think that the coach is qualified, take the kid somewhere else... But let that coach do his job.
I think IMG bolle's place does not allow parents on the grounds during training, and charge 49K per year, still, overall poor international results. Parenting problem does not hold water at all - way off on this one. Totally disagree here.
Sorry it's actually $68,495 for full time boarding of high school student at IMG for the 2011-12 school year. Mom and dad are not around, just cutting the check from the coach at home. Parent problem? Seriously?
Actually, look at all the foreign kids who come to US to train at our facilities using US methods implemented by US coaches. They get better results than US kids for one reason: no US parents.
Can't turn a lamb into a lion regardless of how much you spend... Warriors are made at home.
Foreign academies don't allow parents on the premises. In Russia, the coach locked the doors and parents had to wait 2 hours across the street...
Actually even at those academies here in USA they import coaches from across the pond for one reason - they are better coaches. Even locally here in southern ca where I live, the best coaches here are actually Romanian or polish or some non US background where they learned how to play. I'm not proud of this since I was born here in America. We need to admit that a coaching and devolpment problem exists but as long as parents cut the checks, the ineffective industry here will march forward.
Some places (and parents) import academy or private coaches because they think that foreigners are better but often times they're much, much worse. Even Spanish coaches admit that US coaches are better at technique but we can only mold the granite that's put in front of us.. The "7 years from home" as they say. Foreign kids are better disciplined because the culture is that coaches and teachers are gods... Here, parents dictate with their checkbook.
Can we get a list of these Spanish high performance coaches that think US coaches are better at teaching technique?
Pato Alvarez and Toni Nadal for starters
The worste thing a parent can do is assume the coach is a god, stay home on the couch and just cut the check. Rare to find a coach that was a prize money winning ATP player themselves or coached a true prize money winning ATP player. That would mean top 130 or higher ATP. Coaches would love for you to believe they should be unquestioned gods. Fact is, unless they truly played at the top of the game which means actually winning prize money, then they probably have a serious flaw or two or three in their own game that they might not even want to admit to. They will teach this flaw for sure.
I good read is the Sampras autobiography, in his early developmental years he had a separate serve coach, and separate forehand coach etc. it makes sense and was managed properly by a very smart man in those early years who really was interested in making him great. An egocentric single coach who thinks all parents should just shut up and pay would have gotten him nowhere - probably.
There are any number of reasons why a player might not make it to the top and there are plenty of pros who have flaws in their games who reach the very top. Worst thing is to have know-nothing helicopter parents think that they know more than a pro. If they do, then maybe the parent should coach herself. For the most part, parents only know enough to be dangerous. A generation ago, coaches used to do their job, parents stayed out of the way and Americans dominated. Now we have parents clinging on the fence during lessons and at all stages of the development and we barely have players breaking into top-50. Same coaches, same facilities, same tournaments...what changed? Parenting.
I must be lucky because I have a local pro who's attitude is that he likes parental involvement, rather than be threatened by it. His comment to me recently was "most parents just drop the kid off at the front gate and don't care at all". They just look at tennis as another activity like playing piano or taking art classes, etc. Is it fair to say that all parents have equal knowledge of tennis? If parents don't have a lot of knowledge, is it not possible that they could actually dedicate themselves to studying the game and become knowledgable? Old man Williams comes to mind as well as a lot of parent coaches who chose not to blindly bow down to the gods and self appointed gurus. Certainly, however, they used consultants along the way to work with them for a common goal.
Blaming someone else for a problem is one of the oldest defense mechanisms around. It can't be us, so it must be the parents or the culture, etc. It has to be something other than US coaching or the USTA system, so that only leaves the parents. Judging by what I have read in this post, nothing will change for our players' success here in the USA. The ineffective industry will continue, parents will pay, coaches will happily accept the money, and then - nothing. Must be the parents fault for sure - it's gotta be.
How many world class (top150) players has said local pro produced with his methods which include parental involvement? Look at all the international sports where the US is still competitive and you see that parental involvement is minimal. Let coaches coach or coach yourself if you think that you know better. The coach is the professional in that situation. You wouldn't tell your doctor to do something that you saw on ER or your lawyer to do something you saw on Law & Order would you?!
Agassi- if you read his book his dad didn't turn him over to bolle academy until he saw a 60 minutes episode on TV about the academy. I think Andre was 12 at the time and ranked number three in the USA. How did he get ranked so high before stepping foot into bolle a ademy? His dad was an ex olympic boxer and also strung tennis racquets and was an usher at Vegas venues. Sampras was coached by a pediatrician who played at low level himself - actually some say this pediatrician actually outright sucked as a tennis player - but had vision and belief and drew together the right consultants for Pete. Harrison had dad involved, Johnson, Williams sisters, etc. If I actually took the time to study the devepmental years of the current players, both men and women top 150 I'm sure tons had significant parental involvement. If the parent had absolutely no knowledge of tennis and no interest in tennis, of course they just dropped the kid off at the local club and a rare talent could still blossom. Both methods of involvement could work - depends on who is trusted to coach the kid. Both djoker's and ivanovic's parents knew nothing and did not even play tennis, but they got to the right coaches who must have been amazing. I think some luck is involved, living near great coaches and clubs etc. Again, both approaches could work. Coaches knowledge and ability for tennis varies as much as the parent's knowledge and ability for the game from what I see around me. Rare to find one who can foster and develop an awesome two handed backhand, an awesome serve, and awesome modern day forehand, and awesome volley, strategy, transition game etc. They kind of need to posses it themselves first, or be willing to use consultants for certain aspects where they just don't posses the knowledge. Admitting that may be tough depending on coach ego etc.
Again, people like Agassi Williams and Bartoli the parents were the primary coaches. Not parents moonlighting as coaches assistants
By reading the literature regarding tennis player development there are two basic scenarios that can result in success. On the one hand you have situations where parents are the coaches. That means 100% involvement. On the other side of the equation there are parents who are not involved at all in the coaching and development aspect. So that is 0% involvement. Where Americans get lost in the shuffle is that parents are partially involved. That means that the coaches message and relationship with the player is undermined. So this is one aspect where a little bit of help can create a lot more damage than no help at all.
Agassi's dad was a parent, who liked tennis and trained his kid while mixing in consultants. He was not a teaching pro at a club who was a full time tennis instructor from what i remember. Neither was the pediatrician who took on Sampras. These are not teaching pros that made a living 9 to 5 giving lessons. Williams was also not a teaching pro but a parent who took it upon himself to learn more and more about the game. Not sure about harrison and the multiple others where parents were obviously involved. The era in the 80's etc when USA had its golden times had a lot of parents seriously involved, not just on the couch cutting checks mindlessly.
http://www.biography.com/people/andre-agassi-9177078
Agassi's dad was his first and primary coach. He coached his brother an sister. He was not a fence-hugger during Andre's lessons. Pete's upbringing simply underscores the importance of having one message.. Not "what coach said" and "what mom said". If you want to be involved, more power to you. I just hope that the coach has enough sense to bill you for every fraction of an hour you stay on the phone with her or after the lesson talking about your perspective and input.
Actually I would not be surprised at all if andres dad was actually on the court listening carefully when he brought in a consultant to help refine the strokes. Seems like your attitude is quite extreme. 100 percent of involvement of parent with the kid which you admit could be successful, does not necessarily mean never using another teaching pro to help with a common goal. Sounds like in your world it's either an independent coach or a parent doing 100 percent of coaching?
I agree, a pro should bill like an attorney for every minute spent with the player or family, however, the client should also evaluate whether she is actually getting top notch work or just mediocre marginal work.
I would suggest that, if it fits in your schedule and budget, you take your daughter/son to a lesson with Lansdorp. Or send her to an academy in Spain. That's when you'll see how not extreme out position really is. Half-way parental involvement ruins more players than anything else. Research a good developmental coach and let her do her job or coach your daughter yourself. But don't teach a coach who you think is mediocre how to do the job on your behalf. That undermines the message and skills to be imparted. You wouldn't be teaching a teacher how to teach, would you?! Are you telling the piano teacher which keys to teach first?! Are you telling the educator how the alphabet is to be taught?! No. Why is tennis different?! Just because you like it?! What's that have to do with anything?! You're either the coach or the parent. An in-between role is confusing to the player.
Unquestionably a very extreme almost arrogant position IMO. Parents have different levels of knowledge of the game, some can and should be involved. All parents are not tennis idiots who want to undermine a coach/instructor. Shooing them away unless they are actually hurting the kids development is wrong. As far as tennis genius/gurus/pros etc, I read an interesting article by Bryan's bros dad who said, if the USTA national coaches are so good and the ultimate trainers, why is it that their own kids who play tennis aren't making it? Perhaps it's training methodology? Perhaps they don't have all the answers. Supposedly these are the best USA instructors/coaches/teachers that exist. Methods used are not really working, nothing to do with parents at all.
Who else did Wayne Bryan coach besides his kids? So his opinion is as influential as...that of Richard Williams (except that Richard actually produced singles GS winners). Also, the USTA coaches are not "the best"... They are simply people who work in that system. Also, many coaches don't want their own kids to pursue such a difficult career path - even if they know the way to get there. The recipe that's destroying US tennis is that kids are spoiled/soft and parents don't understand their boundaries, limitations and rules. They know enough to be dangerous and that's detrimental to their kids' development.
I think the same may hold true for many many tennis coaches in USA (vast majority), they know enough to be dangerous and give the outward impression of expertise in the field to those who really don't understand the game, when in reality they are not. As far as parents, some "know enough to be dangerous" for sure, but others may know more than an ego of a coach is willing to accept. If a parent, for example, took eight years of piano lessons as a child themselves and then another five years of piano training in her adult years, you can bet they will be very important in the training of their kid in piano. They will work with the piano teacher to help make her kid great. They will practice with the kid daily and sit in on lessons to learn themselves, etc.
Anyway, here is an interesting read by a true proven expert in the field, its long but the last half is really interesting. I hope you are willing to post it for the parents reading this thread.
http://www.tennis-prose.com/articles/wayne-bryans-letter-to-the-usta/
thanks for posting the link, that speaks to the integrity of this website!
it is o.k. to disagree and have opposing viewpoints on things, makes for a colorful discussion for sure :)
http://parentingaces.com/i-was-in-the-room-with-rafa/?fb_source=pubv1
Nadal having a built in daily family coach like Toni is probably the main reason he made it like he did in men's tennis. Interestingly, here is a quote from an article about Toni Nadal during Rafa's early career. To have pro coach work daily with your kid daily is simply cost prohibitive here in the USA, even for rich people. Would be great for even a tennis knowledgeable parent to hand over a kid to a coach and say "here, you take over everything" Read about Rafa's lucky situation below:
"Nadal then got older and started winning more and more tournaments which granted the Mallorcan large amounts of money. Sebastian Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s father, decided that it was time his son paid his coach out of his own earnings. Immediately Toni Nadal said no.
“I don’t want to receive money from Rafael,” and the reason for this was? “I want to be the boss.”
Receiving money from his nephew meant that his opinion would no longer carry the weight it once had. He insists that they always talk and there are times when they also argue. All their conversations however “are focused to improve our game and performance.”
If young Rafa was the boss, as disciplined as he may be, he might have been tempted to sack his coach and uncle. That however was never going to be the case."
Rafa was lucky to have such a unique situation.
The only fly in the ointment with the Nadal team is the coaching from the stands - they are both (Rafa and Toni) basically cheating and they know it. Other than that, they seem to be a team to be admired.
oops maybe I found one more small fly in ointment - Roids? not sure about that one, never heard about a true documented positive test so I would have to presume innocence, but illegal coaching is for sure - everyone knows that.
I do not work for Wilson nor do I even necessarily care for that brand. Rarely does something come up technology wise in racquets that seems to be real . Usually just new paint jobs and gimmicky things that are overall irrelevant. Their Spin Effect technology with wide open string pattern seems to be possibly real? I tried it. Might be worth having your expert staff (or friends) demo one of these Spin Effect racquets and give some opinions here on it? Just an idea
How about a new article?
How about "on the rise" contact point concept vs waiting for the ball to come down from the peak height before contact. Seems like some players hang around kinda far back from the baseline and prefer to hit the ball on the way down, vs some who are constantly pushing inside the baseline, etc. When intermediate level players or intermediate juniors try to hit "on the rise" , more frequent errors seem to crop up from mishits and it is discouraging.