The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is all excited about their latest addition, on-court coaching, which will debut in just a few weeks, but it looks like they may run into a few problems with the people that will be effected by it the most, the tennis players.
Svetlana Kuznetsova was the first to jump on the coaching bandwagon and in fact, handed the WTA an agreeable soundbyte to use on its official press release. “I think on-court coaching will be really interesting, both for players and fans,” said Sony Ericsson WTA Tour world No. 7 and former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Serbia and Montenegro’s Ana Ivanovic agrees that it will be an interesting addition, but it could have a lot of potential problems. “Of course, I am in favour of changes that will make the sport more entertaining. The fans are very, very important,” said Ana. “But it is also important that we protect certain areas of the game. I think that the communication between a coach a player should be private. I also think this is going to be distracting. I prefer to focus only on my game – my shots, my movement and my tactics. Having this possibility to invite the coach to the court is something that I would prefer not to think about. [But] we will see how it goes.” (Ana Ivanovic’s Official Website)
Maria Sharapova has been pretty guarded in her responses to the controversy, but this cannot be too surprising as her father Yuri is often one of the coaches that come to mind when you think of coaching during matches. “It’s interesting to see how things will work, but I don’t know whether the coaching will make a difference for me,” Sharapova said. “I’ve always played by instinct. Coaches are good for scouting opponents and giving you a plan.”(The Gazette)
Kim Clijsters, who is normally Miss Congeniality with the press, did not mince words when she flat out expressed her disapproval of the new changes. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this,” says world No. 2 Kim Clijsters of Belgium, “but it’s a rule I’m absolutely against.” (USA Today)
Out of all the comments that I have read in the past several days, I find myself agreeing more with Ana Ivanovic on the issue of privacy between the comments made between coaches and players. If you are going to allow on-court coaching, at least show the players some respect and not broadcast their private conversations to the masses via ESPN2.
Tennis is a one-on-one sport. That’s what makes it so interesting, especially on the WTA side. All the mental instability, the drama, the momentum fluctuations. Take that away and tennis is another “team” sport. I like individual sports. So, I agree with KC: I’m totally against it.
good point momofan – singles tennis matches are about two people; the ones staring at each other across the net.