What Is A Top Tennis Coach Worth? !

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This is a question that tennis players, parents, federations often have in their minds.

The answer is, A Top Tennis Coach is worth millions!

To be a decent Coach you need experience, to be a Top Tennis Coach you need alot of experience and knowledge:

- At least 10 to 15 years tournament play, national, international, open prize money, ATP, WTA.

- A minimum combined 20 years experience of competitive tennis and coaching/teaching/training tennis.

- Have/had a high ranking in your country or ATP, WTA.

- Have/had played Davis Cup, Fed Cup and the junior international team and individual competitions of the time.

- Be a true lover and student of the game.

- Be an excellent scout and detect weaknesses and strengths at the blink of an eye.

- Understand tactics and strategies and how to implement them successfully.

- Be a great developer of the game.

- Be open minded and get others to be open to learn and develop new concepts and ideas.

- Understand game intelligence and coax others to use it.

- Know the relevance of bio-mechanics and its use in tennis.

- Master all tennis techniques and how to help others master them at the highest level.

- Have extensive knowledge of physical training for tennis and other sports with transfer/interactivity possibilities.

- Have good knowledge of regeneration techniques, massage, physio-therapy, injury prevention/recovery and anything that will help an athlete maximize his/her potential.

- Understand what mental training is and know how to implement it, both out of competition, during competition and after competition.

- Know and use effectively proper anchoring techniques.

- Know all important diets/meals and types of supplements for pre-competition, during competition and after competition.

- Have excellent leadership qualities.

- Be attentive, caring, flexible, intelligent, creative, understanding, appreciative, friendly, humble and an impeccable role model.

In fact a tennis coach still has to be much more then what I just mentioned, but for the propose of this article it highlights some of the crucial aspects of being a tennis coach.

A little story will help here. Pablo Picasso was sitting in one of his favorite Cafés in Paris, when a Japanese tourist approached and asked him for an autographed sketch. In a few seconds Picasso obliged, handed it to the tourist and said:

- Eight thousand dollars!.

Stupefied the Japanese stuttered:

- But...it only took you ten seconds to do it!

Picasso replied with a grin:

- Yes, it did take me ten seconds to do it now, but it took me thirty years to learn how to master it!

Now in tennis, some parents, players and even federations do not understand or put the right value to a tennis coach and the immense amount of work, time, money and perseverance it takes to be a top coach, because they do not realize the following:

- You pay a coach for one hour, but it took a life time for him/her to be able to give the right advice to his pupils and the actions of that coach can last for a life time and make the difference between success or failure forever.

There are other reasons why so many complaints and so many failed programs by parents, clubs and federations happen, which stem from the fact that not just any coach will do, especially if you want to pay him little and when you can consider that some of the expensive ones are also incompetent.

No need to mention that related to the last fact, the LTA (British Tennis Association), TA (Tennis Australia), DTB (German Tennis Association), the USTA (United States Tennis Association) and others embarked on the folly of the 'big name coaches' (who some of them do not set foot on court because they feel half a million and over a million is just not enough and they need to expand their sources of income elsewhere!). Those programs have completely failed to produce anything worthy of praise in recent years.

One of these short-lived follies was the Mercedes Team concept some years back by the DTB (Germany) spearheaded by 'coaches' Boris Becker and Steffi Graff! At that time, the press reported salaries of at least two million per head a year! As just an observer I have been twiddling my fingers for the last 15 or 20 years to see the results of such 'big name' expensive projects!

Pragmatic as it may sound, in spite of the failure, those Boris Becker's and Steffi Graf's are worth the two million and more but with performance conditions, which in that case were not set.

Also I am aware that Brad Gilbert had a LTA £750,000 yearly contract to coach Murray, which was renegotiated very likely 'downwards' after Murray fired Brad...and Paul Annacone believed to exceed £350,000 a year.

Nevertheless, however great Gilbert and Anacone's salary may sound, they are peanuts if one considers that their positions were to influence the direction of tennis of a whole Nation! In this case, England.

If we consider that Wimbledon alone had a net income for the LTA (British tennis) of about $68 million last year alone and given that in 2009 Wimbledon spent £ 100 million in construction costs for new structures, a £2M a year salary for Anacone and Gilbert would have been still peanuts considering the scope of their National responsibilities!

This brings me back to the initial question, 'What Is A Top Tennis Coach Worth?'

Considering what I have already said and what I still will say, a top tennis coach is worth millions many millions of Dollars, Euros, Kwacha, Rupee you name it!

Why?

To begin, all you have to do is look at the salaries of any top coach in any professional sports league; N.B.A. (Jackson is paid over $10 million per year, N.F.L. Lovie Smith and Jeff Fisher, make $5.5 million a year) , Spanish Football League (Mourinho at the top ten million ++ Euro) and so on and so forth.

Why do tennis coaches not fetch the same salaries?

Several fundamental reasons:

- There is no world wide professional organization dedicated to protect the interests of Tennis Coaches.

- There is no world wide professional organization regulating the Tennis Coaches salaries.

- There is no world wide professional organization regulating the Tennis Coaches qualifications. Here I am not talking about USPTAs or PTRs!

- Tennis teachers and Coaches instead of supporting each other, often are the detractors of each other!

- Any fellow that hits a tennis ball half way decent can be a tennis coach for $150 a week plus expenses! Sometimes for expenses only! Just to put the foot in the door! Ouch!!

- Top Tennis Coaches themselves are responsible for their lack of credibility by groveling and accepting to train a player like Roger Federer 'to sit down and share some ideas'... This sounds like you give me your best coaching tips and then we say good-bye. Wonderful concept for a cunning player-pretty unfair for the coach! For goodness sakes, a coach is qualified or is not qualified!

- There is no differentiation between a true tennis coach and a father/mother blessed with a gifted child that makes them think he/she is a fantastic tennis coach.

If the coaches themselves do not take pride in their own self value and profession, what can they expect from greedy parents, exploitative players, agents and federations? Abuse obviously!

Exactly what they get, a foot stuck in the door rather then getting in.

Is there a justification for a better pay for Coaches? Sure, all you got to do is see the earnings of the tennis players they train:

Roger Federer $56,249,204

Andy Murray $11,675,766

Rafael Nadal $32,730,442

Novak Djokovic $17,492,062

Robin Soderling $7,287,789

Nikolay Davidenko $13,811,463

Andy Roddick $18,531,118

How much will these players personal fortune be at the end of their careers with the help and support of their coaches?

If we consider that a Boris Becker earning a lot less prize money than today's top earners, stands at a total of $25,080,956 and his fortune was estimated at 150m Euros ($146.5m) during his career. It is not unfathomable that Roger Federer has a reported $500 million (half a billion) combined income from endorsements and other fees!

Neither is it impossible that a Nadal may have amassed a reported $200 million combined income from endorsements and other fees! No surprise that he wears a $500+ thousand dollar watch to play tennis!

Of course I also understand there is the developing player, but for that there are parents with money, sponsors and federations with millions, that should compensate the coach/teacher proportionately.

A super talented developing player is not the typical club player, in such cases in special written clauses a coach developing such a player, should be paid for what a future $56,249,204 earner is worth. As it is coaches get nothing!

To complete the value of the work of a Top Tennis Coach, are the revenues that the ATP, WTA, ITF and others generate from the development of top tennis players:

- U.S. Open around $200M In Revenue, $110-115M Profit

- Wimbledon declines to disclose revenue or sponsorship figures, but says it had a net income of about $68 million last year..

- 13 Jan 2010 ... Australian Open revenue is forecast to grow to A$152 million ($140 million)

- French Open a possible $250M in revenue, Profit undisclosed

The WTA, ATP and ITF:

In 2008 the WTA and the ATP reported prize money increases — 34 percent on the women's tour to $47 million and 18 percent on the men's side to $82.3 million. You do the math for the total revenue, when this represents more or less than 20 percent of the tournaments total revenue.

Added to those figures are the millions perhaps even billions of dollars governments and the ITF give to each and every Nation around the world for the 'development of tennis'

Next, the tennis industry as a whole is a multi-billion dollar industry which benefits:

- Countries, cities, real estate developments, communities and more

- Hotel, Resorts, Tourism, Travel Agents, Luxury.

- Racket manufactures and employment.

- Tennis shoe manufactures and employment.

- Tennis accessories and employment.

- Tennis ball machines and employment.

- Tennis balls and employment.

- Tennis court production and employment.

- Tennis nets, net-poles, lines, umpire chairs, and employment.

- Tennis construction of tennis halls, tennis clubs, tennis facilities and employment.

- The construction of tennis stadiums and tennis centers of Roman grandeur and employment..

- Doctors, therapeuts, physical trainers, dieticians and employment..

- The lavish life style and income for officials, federations, tennis agents and entourages.

- A horde of small and large industries and consequently several million jobs.

All of this is created because of the dedication of the Top Tennis Coach 24/24 hour job and the selfless working machine the Tennis Teacher who spends 8 to 12 hours a day helping others reach their dreams and fortune.

All of the above would be impossible if it was not for the Top Tennis Coach and the Tennis Teacher.

As you can see through my words, I take enormous pride in what I do and above all I am proud of my great contribution and that of my peers to society.

The only regret I have is, how obtuse the tennis system and tennis teachers and coaches are to allow themselves to be exploited for a pittance of money, when in fact they are the driving force of a whole industry and should be paid according to the incredible support they give to so many world-wide.

Before I go to the 'office and give tennis lessons', I simply pick-up myself, straighten up my shoulders, lift up my head, stand tall, walk firm and think, 'I am one of the sustaining pillars of a whole industry and on my shoulders lay the livelihoods of millions of people and their families, I do not have millions but I am worth millions if not billions, I will do the best job I can for my pupils, I am proud of myself!' ...and so should every tennis teacher, tennis instructor, tennis coach on this earth, you are special!

That Is What A Top Tennis Coach is Worth!

Sergio Cruz.

This article was inspired from a post from Johan Kriek (Former ATP world ranked Nr. 7) on Facebook: 'Andy Murray needs a new coach and Anacone is now working with Roger and Daren Cahill is "too busy"...How about some advice from a hard nosed South-African "bushman" Andy...play to win ALL the way thru a match and play with fire vs conservative "holding back"...one may have to feel the pain of defeat in trying a new s...trategy to reach a higher "plateau" and reach true greatness......just my thoughts...

Below are some Tennis Coaches and others comments to Johan's post:

Richard Laver It is if you are federer or Agassi. 7 matches to win a major . You have to be incredible at staying 10 feet behind the baseline for 7 matches. He is good for 5 or 6 ,but at some point some point a playher is going to go totally offensive and break that system down. I am positive Andy would have won that match in five sets,but it shows you if that happens early in a major it wears you down by the final and vulnerable to monster like Nadal etc

Richard Laver I think Johan could really help . A controllled agressive attacking regime !! Just like Kriek. The first order of business would be to get him to stay on that damn baseline and stop backing up . Two feet forward and he wins the US open . I told that to Spadea back in the day when he was making his comeback . He needed to set up camp on top of the baseline and stop getting pushed around

Bruce Gullikson Johan for as fast as he is don't you think Murray generally stands too far behind the baseline also he could improve his second serve and although he has a great drop shot he gets too infatuated with it and makes some dumb choices

Paula Smith I think you have the vote. He's a good, a Scott & tuff, just needs some one in his corner, that knows what he is doing.

Sergio Cruz
Murray pays for his own control freakishness:
- Goes to Spain to become a sand pirate 3 or 4 meters behind the baseline.
- Has to redo work to correct the Spanish mistake.
- Gets rid of Gilbert because he can not control the guy.
- Puppeteers a ...team he put together!
Obviously it is preposterous to even remotely think the Scott wants to be coached.
http://www.tenniscruz.com/content/view/448/1/

http://tenniscruz.com/content/view/444/90/

Alon Moritz No one is "entitled" to win matches, and over complicating things is not much good either, Cahil is smart to be busy.

Manon Bollegraf Oh so true Johan

Johan Kriek
By the time one steps on center court of a GS you have to think simple concepts, simple basics and then check your ego so it is not overwhelming yourself and keep problem solving realistically on every mistake you make or point the opponent... wins. The great spectacular matches are happening due to simple focus of all aspects of the 2 player's games. let the chips fall where they may then ...when you are lucky, all goes according to plan...

Johan Kriek
Talked to a highly respected Davis Cup coach and very good friend of mine yesterday and we discussed this "top end" coaching scenarios...it is amazing to me the level of incompetence with coaches at the WTA Tour! It is a "mom and pop" busin...ess and so many of them just need some great direction for a few months and they can be sooo much better.

In many ways the coaching scenarios on the ATP Tour stems from being at the "right place at the right time"...lockerroom...;)

Jake Putnam Couldn't agree more Johan, Id have to go with someone like you...you punnished your opponets, you made them pay...no one wanted to play you at the end of the day!

Gavin Mkandla Murray needs someone in his box able to give him that extra something that will allow him to go out and perform to the best of his abilities.Johan Kriek could be a significant value to Murray's quest for world domination..

Don Turner He needs something that is for sure!!!!!!!!

Paula Smith Go for it Joha! What's the worst that could happen, he gives you the finger?

Sergio Cruz Just stay away from the Prima Donna Johan. You have the connections (Gavin Forbes IMG) he can get you a 16 to 18 year hold with enough quality to be a top 10 in 3 or four years.

Stacy Margolin Potter Wow- johan, you have really stirred up your FB friends with this one.. my question is,"Who needs the drama?" You've got better things @ home for you!

Tim Seals
Cahill is a farce when coaching a top player. Annacone is a great fit with Fed who needs(as he gets older to win more easy points in the front.
Roddicks not going anywhere and if I were Stefanki I'd take Murray in a flash.

Kriek, who needs ...these prima donnas? Just develop your own baller!!!! Less headaches!

Brad Gilbert Tennis Nation Solid words of advice, easier said than done with the modern tennis players.

Johan Kriek Good lord people!...I certainly did hit some kinda nerve out there...but thanks for the advice...I would much rather do what so many wonderful tennis dynasties did...build the kids from scratch....Borg/Bergelin, Connors/ mom and grandma, Becker/Bosch etc. I am thinking....

Tim Seals Lansdorp/Sampras (no matter what anyone says! Arias/bollettieri ( okay I am kinda laughing at this one)

Johan Kriek
Here are my thoughts...USTA spends how much $$$ on junior development and what do we have coming? Australia has a huge sports institute and who is coming on the horizon? Tomik...good luck with that attitude, South-Africa has had great pla...yers in the top ten in singles and doubles for many decades and where are we now?? NOWHERE!...so does it not make sense to find a handful of talented kids, instill in them a hard working ethic, not expecting miracles and immediate success but to understand that only thru hard work, perseverance, luck and a gradual "awakening" to the "big picture" when it is actually earned and not given on a silver platter - makes more sense? I had a dream once, I worked at it, sometimes went thru scary periods of lows but NEVER gave up on my dreams...I am still "awakening"...;)

Johan Kriek Can all you experst tell me what MAKES a great champion??

Tim Seals USTA has been a joke for 25+ years! I recall sitting at lunch in 1986 as a 23 year old w/ Robert Lansdorp and even then he was blasting the USTA and his perfect example was how much money they gave to, err cough cough Vic Braden to do his, " EXPERIMENTS"

Tim Seals Oh, I can't wait for all the cliches to start rolling in, Heart, determination, God given talent, yadda yadda yadda.....

Tim Seals Are we talking TOTAL balls to the wall champions like Fed, Connors, Sampras etc or are we talking solid top 20 with a fighting chance at greatness?

Johan Kriek Rich parents? Luck? Politics?Favoritism?Strings?Good umpiring?Nice hair? Nice ass?...oops? Now I'm going to get blasted!!!!

Johan Kriek BALLS to the wall champions....give me the one characterirstic that runs thru ALL of the great ones....

Tim Seals Look at Russian women and their success, may attributed that to their desire to ESCAPE the system. Only way out was to make it big.

Tim Seals
Let's make a list of 10 men and 10 women and look for any similarities.

I nominate Men( Roger, Pete, Borg, McEnroe, Laver, Connors, Lendl, Agassi, Becker and Rosewall) Women ( Martina, Chrissy, Monica, Steffie, Serena, Billie Jean, Marga...ret Court, Justine, Goolagong and Hingis) left off Venus as one sister will do. See More

Tim Seals ?1st off let's eliminate the, " it's a numbers game, because small countries have proven that they can dominate an era, the Swedes in mens and Belgin women for example. So having a lot of players is not the answer.

Paula Smith
To be #1 it takes someone who wants to win more than anyone else & will do what ever it takes to get there. To be a great champion takes a little more.
hey Johan it's great if you can train one from the beginning, but they are one in a milli...on to find.

Tim Seals Hmm I disagree Paula, if they are how do you explain Lansdorp? Luckiest coach in history?

Johan Kriek I think great coaching has to have a great mix of raw talent in whatever form ( Pete had a huge serve and great hands), Davenport was tall powerful but pretty slow but she hit a big ball and dictated from the word go) iron wills by both player and coach, friendships that last a lifetime etc. But I found out that tennis has very thin loyalty if any at all...Borg seemd to have trusted Bergelin totally, Connors trusted his mom and grandma implicitly, so it boils down to "chemistry " and a total trust..

Tim Seals
you left out Sharapova and regardless of her "living" at IMG her game is 100% Robert. In fact I recall talking to him about a player on the phone when Maria was about 12 and he said to me about the girl I was calling about, she is good, but... I have a young Russian coming here to me that will be GREAT! Having actually hit with a 10yr old davenport almost every morning for 8 weeks back in 86, she was just a pudgy happy go lucky kid that NO one would have predicted a Grand Slam from.

Johan you are right on about the loyalty factor, the coach hopping, IMO hurts a lot of players from getting more from their game. See More

Johan Kriek Yep, I call them "grasshoppers"...grass is alwyas greener on the other side..;)

Tim Seals lol

Tim Seals last point before I hit the hay, the Grasshoppers not only hurt themselves but also can prevent the development of GOOD coaches. A coach may be talented but have a rather small client group or be in a remote area so when the player hops to the other "better" grass that coach may not get the best chance to show his/her full talents either.

Howie Burnett
We are all upset about this because we see enormous talent, seemingly without a narrow focus on a goal that we project on that talent --Murray is an artist that has to be molded into a logic base tactician in order to be truly great.

The day... of the artist is well behind us in mens tennis.

Artist are compelled to be artistic so it will be a daunting task even for the most brilliant of coaches.

Paula Smith
Tim, Robert is a great coach, but can't teach sever & yes lucky, that a great pool of players were in his area.
Rafa & Serena have the strongest wills, Roddick lost his awhile ago and has been going" grasshopper" ever since to trying fin...d it as many do. The great rarely do like Borg, Edberg, Federer, Evert, Graf, Aggasi Sampras, Conners, Mac, Billie Jean & Becker. Martina was an exception, being in the top 5, but finally developing that strength of will at 25 with some help.

Tim Seals
silly me I did not even mention Austin who did pretty well with no serve. I just have to differ greatly on saying he was lucky because of talent pool. It just isn't true. It was mainly neighborhood kids as I stated before Davenport was no T...ALENT, in fact of the group of 10 year olds we had she wasn't even in the top 3 kids as I recall. That is not luck that is a SYSTEM of rock hard fundementals that still allowed the kids a chance to have their own flair. I have no doubt that if Robert had of been in atlanta, Miami, or pittsburgh he would have driven kids to high results.

as for the serve, don't think that Pete Fischer masterminded petes serve. Many of the core elements are from Robert and he carried those over to Maria who when healthy serves as big as anyone Serena.

Johan Kriek I think rock solid fundamentals are super key, then a great coach/mentor that brings the best out of the kids over the formative years is just as important...When parents and players think there is always a "better" option just around the corner, and start "hopping" they are fooling themselves. I see it all the time...

Johan Kriek First question a coach should ask the parents and the kids looking for a new coach/program...how many coaches have you had in the past 3 years..if the answer is 3 or more...watch out! grasshoppers.

Tim Seals agreed!

Tim Seals
For me it is hard not to take the kids games home with me. Maybe it is a flaw with me but I am constantly thinking about what I can do with this one or that one and how I can get them to buy into what I am saying 100%. I don't think I wou...ld stay in tennis if it was not for the relationships I build w/ students and parents. I have been lucky that I have very little grasshoppering going on and I think that it is mainly because the parents realize that the kids are more than just a paycheck to me. I am sure many other coaches feel the same as me, but there are many that don't.

Johan Kriek
I couldn't agree more! The problem is, when you care a lot about the kids, you go out of your way to do the "extras" and they then leave, it hurts! But I have quickly learned that there is very little loyalty in tennis, especially here in S...arasota/Bradenton area because there is always another better coach/academy not too far away that will be just too happy to take that new dollar...Look, it is impossible to satisfy every kid, every parent and make everybody happy 100% all the time..plain and simple impossible..so I focus on the hard work that must be done, i give honey and vinegar when it is needed. I guess for me old school worked well...:)

Johan Kriek Tim, that is precisely why you are a great coach/mentor! YOU CARE!!

Tim Seals I once heard a famous coach say, " treat the kids like adults and the parents like children and you will go far."

Tim Seals thanks mate, I apreciate that.

Sergio Cruz If coaching alone was the problem we would all be in tennis heaven!
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sport/Swiss_doping_expert_outlines_new_concerns.html?cid=8788276&rss=true

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