The White Knight and the Caped Crusader

Once upon a time there was a White Knight:

This Knight, also known as Andy Murray, was into the Quarter Finals of the Australian Open and was next due to meet a Japanese warrier named Nishikori. Nishikori was starting to become very famous as he had just become the first Japanese man to make the quarter finals of the AO in 80 years...

What way will this story go?

Will Nishikori make history on Wednesday in the quarter finals or will the White Knight proceed once again to the semis?

We looked to the Caped Crusader for some guidance but he was too busy beating a hasty retreat:

Maybe, just maybe ...

Sound bite (2)

Some more observations on the subtle differences between Australian and Scottish English...

Recently I have noticed that Australian people seem to be practically horizontal in their approach to life. I occasionally find myself a little harassed by day to day challenges which may lead me to utter a phrase like, "I'm pure stressed out of my box", where a native 'Aussie' would say, "no worries, mate". A similar phrase that the Australians use is, "no dramas", which in Older Scots, the language of most of their forefathers, would be translated into, "dinnae fash yerself".

They are very friendly too and seem to add the suffix, 'mate', onto the end of all sentences e.g. "G'day mate", "no worries, mate", "want another beer, mate?" In Glasgow we are more commonly used to adding the suffix, 'but' or 'by the way' to the end of our sentences e.g. "Do you know what I mean, but?" or "I fancy a fish supper on the way home, by the way." Glaswegians can sometimes take offence to this. For instance I have overheard my countrymen many a time utter the words, "who do you think you're calling 'by the way', by the way' in a slightly threatening tone leading me to the conclusion that to call everyone 'mate' is a much better way to get along with people.

Furthermore, Australians seem to think that everything is very simple which I have noticed by the frequency of the word 'easy' or the phrase, 'too easy' in everyday speech. For example, back home if one asks something slightly out of the ordinary like, "can you pass me the salt as we don't have any on our table", or "can I have two rolls well fired and two soft this morning", one might be met with a tsk tsk or a sigh or even worse a roll of the eyes. In Australia, you would normally be answered with, 'easy' or 'too easy'. That's, of course, only after they have asked me to repeat oneself four times to catch the jist of what I'm saying.

Uncle Toni Nadal in conversation at the 2012 Australian Open Coaches Conference...

"Uncle Toni" has become legendary in tennis circles. He is the coach of Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest tennis players in the world. He is possibly most well known for coaching 'Rafa' since he was 4 years old and is still his main coach to the present day.


Toni was posed questions from the audience which he responded to in Spanish and then they were translated for us. This is the only way I could write so quickly!




Is there anything you did with Rafa at the age of 4 or 5 years of age that is linked to what you do with him now?

The first thing I do in tennis and in life is to do everything very simple. All sports are very simple. All sports a game and some coaches make it difficult. A very simple system. Play points. If he make a mistake on the forehand, we practise the forehand, if he make a mistake on the backhand, we practise the backhand. For me it is very important that the player understands the game. The game is not the same if you have the luck to have a player like Rafael or Roger. See what the attitude of the player is and from there .. Apply the basic principles of tennis: Hit the ball when it is rising. Understand the pathway the player has to make.

What skills did Rafa get from playing football that he has now has taken to tennis? 

Playing different sports when you're young is good. Football has helped his footwork.

Is it true that Rafa  was a right handed player and you changed him?

No. When he started, he played both sides with both hands and soccer with his left foot. I am not very clever so i think he  must be left-handed too. But he is right handed. And now the only thing he can do with his left is play tennis. Everything else right handed - brushing his teeth, playing golf etc.

Has every tennis session been delivered with full intensity from a young age?

For me it was always important to work with a lot of intensity. Rafa has always been an intense person. A player who is complicated. He is not sure if he has the ability, the skill. So he wasn't sure if he had coordination or not. In football he didn't look good but he could do good things with the ball. When he played tennis he always did strange things. So i believe it is important for rafa maybe. For Roger it is different.

Were you tough on Rafa mentally when he was young?

I was a hard coach mentally. Not always a coach of giving good news. I wanted to let him know he was not always the best player so he always had something to work for.

When did he go to one hand and was it guided by you?

Until he was ten years old, he played two hands on both sides and then the change. If we trained for two hours we would practise for twenty mins one hand. After four years he could do one hand.

How did you keep him so humble?

Rafa is not very humble. He is just the same as you. The only difference is that Rafa  is number two in the world but you are not there yet . If there is a tennis player who continues to win and is not humble he is an idiot. Because he cannot keep on winning. Rafa good at only one thing - tennis. In everything else he is normal. 


What, for you, is Rafas's greatest achievement? 


Of course, Melbourne. No, Wimbledon 2008....The first French... And Melbourne because many people said he couldn't win on hard courts. 


Why did Rafa not play ITF junior tournaments? 


I didn't think the most important thing was to play ITF. Keep it simple. Play in Spain. I was looking for him to play good quality matches. We are lucky in Spain because there are lots of Futures tournaments. The only junior event I wanted him to do was Wimbledon because we never had seen a grass court so it was important to see a grass court. Australia was too far away. The French open was at same time as school exams. If you are always playing people slightly above you that is good and then you can progress. 


Any comments on Rafa s grip? Did it affect his ability to go from clay to grass? 


It was easier to go from clay to grass than it was from clay to hard court.  


Was there a difficulty in coaching a family member? 


Hard for Rafa as I was too tough. Hard for me as no money. One advantage as I have more investment in him as family member. But on the other side I am more like a father because we are very close. You want them to succeed but sometimes you are scared or worried and you sometimes put more pressure on the player because they are a family member. 


What physical training did Rafa do at a young age? 


He didn't do a lot of physical work as a young teenager. I am a coach from the olden days. I don't believe a lot in the physical work. I believe on doing it on the court for two reasons. One we don't have very much time. He didn't have a lot of time because of football, school etc. He did more when he started on the ATP tour. Also if they train hard on the court then they don't have to train so hard off the court. I have a friend who drives to the golf course and drives back and then comes home and goes walking on his treadmill. Some players train like they are walking and then have to go for a run afterwards. There is no need if you train hard on the court. 


What sort of on court hours was Nadal doing when he was younger? 


Can't remember exactly but he trained more before than he does now. So six days per week but not when he was ten as he did football as well. So when he was twelve he would have played six days per week about 2.5 hours per day and tournaments. 


What next for you? Do you think you will take on another professional player?


I would like to work with some kids. With a group of boys. There is one thing which is difficult when you are coaching professional players. The player starts to think you are their servant. You take them the rackets, get them strung,  get the water. Rafa does all of those things himself so no one else would want me as a coach. <Laughter> When you do the work that is not the work of a coach the problem there is that when the player becomes accustomed to it. A coach should not do this for two reasons. One, there must be respect because the coach is older. And two you have to have the authority to say to the player what you believe. 


Do you think that the way Rafa trains and plays has led to injuries and do you have any ways to manage that? 


I am going to say one thing. Many times people speak about this. I have never spoken about this because it is not interesting. He had an injury in 2005 which was very serious. The doctor say he can not play more. He has a congenital problem in his foot. So he had to put orthotics in his shoes to change the way he lands with his feet. So because of having the orthotics, this has caused some problems in his knees, in his back. So even though he has had injuries, the year he won Australian Open 2009, we couldn't funish a single training session in December because of the pain. He couldn't finish one training session in the whole month of December because of the pain in his foot. So the doctor that told him says he cannot understand how he can still play. Now we train less. In 2005 we thought we might be able to last two more years but now it is 2012 and still we are here. 


Can you answer the following 3 questions? 1 does Rafa use a 4 and one quarter grip size? 2 does He wears his shoes one size too small? 3 does he wears comfie undies? (in reference to his pant pulling habits) 


1 I don't know what grip size he uses.  
2 I don't know. 
3 Even when he was young he was always very nervous and he always .... After the Verdasco match in 2009 ...we were warming up in Margaret court ... After fifteen minutes ha had soreness in his calves...sore head....sore shoulder...when it was all going so bad he said let's stop training....I say it is looking bad .... And rafa said everything is hurting and I said, don't tell me your stories. And rafa said don't tell me it is easy. I say, I know it's not easy otherwise I would have done it myself. And let me tell you that in two hours after the final you will feel even worse. But for you, you will never be so close to winning the Australian open as you are now. And Rafa responded agaain, for you everything is easy. And I said I know everything is not easy but one thing I am sure of: if you had someone pointing a gun at you, you would not stop running no matter how sore you were. So it all depends on you and the motivation you can find to win.  


At the end of the day, we thought Rafa was fresher in the fifth set than Roger. So the motivation is such a special thing. Roger is a better player but sometimes you can beat him with motivation. If you were selecting players to coach, would you look at them as an athlete first and tennis player second, or would you look at their tennis first and then their athletic potential?  I am not very smart. I would look to see who is winning. I am always looking and in this life I try and copy. Sometimes I copy badly. But look at the best- 


- Novak excellent coordination and great condition. 
- Murray also coordinated and great hands and power. 
- Federer also. 


The difference between the good and the very good is their eye. It is the player who can see the play early. In 2006 I was in Wimbledon and we were moving from the practice courts we were walking and we stopped to have a look at a guy who was playing on court 18. I didn't know who it was. I watched for ten to fifteen minutes. I went to see Rafa in the locker room and I say to him, we have a problem. Who was the player? Novak Djokovic. I had not seen him before this time. When you see a player like Novak or Murray you can see they have potential for the future. The primary characteristic is the best players look like they can control the time. This is the key characteristic in spotting talent. 


How can you have played with him every day and he did not pick up your kind of technique? 


When I played, I was a level two player in Spain. So I had it clear that Rafa  had to do the exact opposite of what I had done if he was going to make it. I was a hard player but I never won the point. I passed the ball very well but couldn't finish the point. For this reason I practised with Rafa  making him play winners off the forehand from the start. The clear idea was to do the opposite of what I had done. This can be a problem with coaches is that they want the players to do what they have done. You need to let your tennis and player evolve. Different eras, different play. The next generation will play different again. So the coach must forget what they have done themselves. You always have to think about where the game is going to evolve and where it is going to be. When Rafa was eleven, I would train him for what I thought he would need when he was twenty. Which is why when Rafa was fourteen, I had not much interest in the ITF tournaments.   


Thank you very much Uncle Toni for all of those insights!

Murray Magic

Don't worry, I'm not going to blog about every lesson I do in Australia but I thought that coaching job number two in Melbourne was worth a mention.

I was helping out at an RBS sponsored tennis clinic at Fawkner Park with Judy and Andy Murray.

RBS had invited the children of their key corporate clients along for tennis fun and games. There were around 50 in total with the ages ranging from 3 to 17. Excitement was running high among the kids and coaches alike.

I was struck, as always, by the professionalism of Judy. We were in the presence of the newly appointed GB Fed Cup team captain and this event was being organised with the same precision and commitment as if it was an international make or break tie. Because she cares.

She wants to do the best for the children and players standing in front of her. She wants them not only to enjoy their session but also to learn something about tennis. She wants the coaches to feel comfortable about working with her and ensures they are fully briefed so the ninety minutes that follow are seamless and straightforward.

Because she cares, she makes sure that she speaks to every child in attendance. Each of them will get an individual word of encouragement, a coaching tip or a smile or nod of acknowledgment. Her only worry of the day? That she didn't give enough time to each child as it was so busy.

Not only that but she also looks after Andy who moved from court to court with her, joining the lines of children, laughing and joking with them and making sure that they were all having fun. I was lucky enough to be on Andy's team for a competition at the end with the 6 to 9 yrs squad. Andy was as competitive as ever diving to get balls around the net that others had missed but also making sure that every child on his side of the court got to hit the ball during the game. Because he cares too.

It brought to mind a line from the famous Kipling poem,

'If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch'.

The inspiring thing about Judy and Andy is that they treat everyone equally and that each minute that they spend with you is 'sixty seconds worth of distance run'.

And this, my friends, is the magic of the Murray (s).
To see pictures of this event, click here

Sound bite (1)

Some curious sociolinguistic observations from down under: 

Differences in Vocabulary

(1) Wrong about the thong

I was slightly alarmed recently to hear two perfectly respectable young men traversing the city centre on a weekend morning bemoaning the fact that their thongs were giving them some trouble. Something about a friction burn. Good heavens, I thought, are native Australian men so metrosexual that not only do they wear thongs but they are perfectly au fait with discussing them willy nilly walking along the street, pardon the pun.

Imagine my relief when I discovered that the term 'thong' in Australia refers to what we in Scotland may call a flip flop. A rare word in our vocabulary. Flip flop that is. Owing to our climactic differences.

(2) Acronyms

A commonly used acronym in my home town of Glasgow is N.E.D. which stands for Non-Educated Delinquent although most people just say 'ned' or 'neds' in day to day usage e.g. 'thereanedovererr' ('There's a N.E.D.over yonder') or 'watchooterrabunchonedsroonthecorner' (Be careful! There is a gathering of N.E.D.s round that corner.)

'Neds' are known as 'bogans' over here. So much more onomatopoeic, don't you think? I wonder what it stands for. Answers on a postcard...

Double Trouble

I delivered my first tennis lesson in Australia yesterday. I was a bit nervous as my shipping hasn't arrived yet and I was using a borrowed racket, borrowed balls and forced to wear running shoes (as opposed to 'proper' tennis shoes that give you more balance in tennis specific movements).

I also didn't know who I would be coaching ... the only info I had been given was a mysterious female name.... was it an adult, a child, a beginner, a pro?

It turned out to be a couple who were rising to a challenge from his boss. Boss + his missus versus my client + his missus. So the competitive stakes were raised from the start. We had a lot of fun working in a doubles context. I hope I passed on to them some fundamentals of doubles play e.g. communication is essential, know your partner's strengths and weaknesses, court coverage and a few basic technical points about volleys and serves.

A first lesson with adults is tricky. You have to get the balance of how to manage their expectations of what they might think they are paying for (lots of instruction and technical information) with what the coach thinks might be the most appropriate way of teaching (lots of game based scenarios interspersed with nuggets of technical tips if necessary). It is a bit of a double edged sword. So it is always a bit disheartening when the first question is, 'How do I hold the racket?' or 'Can you show me the right grip?' before the player has even struck a ball. The coach then has to decide whether, 'let's just hit a few balls and see what you are doing first', appeases the player or if they feel like they are getting a raw deal or even worse that the coach is avoiding the question because they don't know the answer.

This is in contrast with a child's perspective of a tennis lesson. A typical fresh faced 5 year old arrives at the courts and after a fun warm up and some co-ordination exercises spends the rest of the lesson begging to know when they are going to get to play "real tennis". And they don't mean an ancient form of tennis played on a four walled court. More on how to manage this expectation in a positive way in a future post.

This looks like an interesting read on the philosophy of sport:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/30/non-fiction-roundup-review

R&B

At this time of year, people are talking about New Year resolutions. Coming from a coaching background, I think it is a great idea to focus on our goals for the rest of the year right at the start. But how many of us believe we will achieve them?


Since I have come to Melbourne, I have realised how proud everyone is of this city. Melburnians and those who have adopted it as their second home fall over themselves to extol its virtues. It is a fantastic city for coffee, cricket, tennis and live music. There is a great arts scene, fabulous schools, parks, and even a beach only two miles from the city centre. Public Transport is efficient and jumping on and off trams is enjoyable. You can eat and drink in top class restaurants and bars to your heart's content.


I tend to subscribe to all of the above but I have a question: is it all as wonderful as it appears or is it because people believe it is wonderful. Starting with the coffee, for example, is it really amazing coffee or is it because everyone believes it is amazing coffee because they have been told so often? Is it the best place in Australia to watch live sport or is it because everyone believes that it is because they have heard it so many times before? Are the bars and restaurants any better than those in other attractive cities of the world or is it because Melburnians are the slickest self-marketeers known in the history of the universe?


The point is, it doesn't really matter because everyone believes Melbourne is fab. And this belief has been interwoven into the Melburnian psyche for many years as natives and immigrants have constructed a city that reflects their beliefs. Or have their beliefs shaped the city in which they now live?


Has the collective consciousness of the last two hundred years shaped the way Melbourne is today or has the great city that is Melbourne shaped the collective consciousness of its inhabitants? Is the success of this city due in part to its cultural beliefs and if so, what can we learn from this model?


If I compare Scotland to Australia for a brief moment, then it seems that in Scotland, we often find ourselves trapped in a culture of failure. What a shame we didn't succeed, but not to worry, we didn't expect to win anyway. Do we fail because we believe we were going to fail? I'm going to challenge myself, as I set my goals for 2012, to really believe that I can achieve them. 


Here's Mark Twain, to get me started:


"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."                                         


-MARK TWAIN 


P.S. (There is actually proof that Melbourne is the best city in the world. If you don't believe me, read this!).

Happy New Year!

Seasons Greetings from Australia.

It was beginning to not feel like Christmas this year. What with the busy unruly sun shining upside down and everything.

But all was well with the world when the heavens opened and it rained in a monsoon like fashion for most of Christmas Day. Suddenly all was well with the world again.