My OrangeCoach

The Adidas Player Program

Sven Groeneveld has coached players like Mary Pierce, Michael Stich, Greg Rusedski and Ana Ivanovic. He is currently training advisor for the Adidas Player Program and works with Fernando Verdasco and Caroline Wozniacki. Also Director @ OrangeCoach.

In 2006 I decided to start offering my coaching experience and services through my own tennis consultancy company, Independent Consultancy Development (IDC). After 15 years of tennis coaching I felt it was time to move on.

Soon after finalizing all the things needed to start my own company I was contacted by Jim Latham. Jim, Head of Adidas Global Sports Marketing Tennis, informed me about a new tennis program Adidas had introduced: "The Adidas Player Program".

The Adidas Player Program complements the players own team

The Adidas program was created with the spirit and vision of Adi Dassler in mind - helping tennis athletes reach their fullest potential via a collaborative effort and teamwork. In modern day sport, it is very unlikely that any one coach or mentor can provide all the expertise and insights that are required to become world class. The essence of the Adidas player program is that it strives to complement the player's own team with additional advice and motivation."

The essence of the Adidas Player Development Program matched entirely with my own vision on tennis and I decided to take the job as leading on-court training advisor for all junior and senior pro athletes in the program.

On court training advice?

My Job at Adidas consists of a unique mix of complementary advice and support. It involves coaching tips, finding & appointing the right hitting partners, nutritional advice and career management plans. All to address the individual needs of both junior and senior players with a Adidas contract. The program is also an important asset for the day to day coaches and parents of the players as it strives to complement the player's own team. As mentioned before it is very unlikely that any one coach or mentor can provide all the expertise and insights that are required to reach the top.

Another challenging aspect of my work is talent scouting. Every year we organize several training weeks and try to spot potential tennis talents for Adidas. Since 2007 I work closely with Mats Merkel, who assists me in the day to day guidance of players, and Gil Reyes, the former trainer of Andre Agassi, who is responsible for the physical/fitness part of the training schedule.

Martina was the first to prove the success of the program

My work for Adidas started in 2006 with a very challenging assignment: Martina Hingis. Martina had asked me to assist her during the preparation of the Australian Open of 2006. She immediately reached the quarter finals and, taking into consideration she had not been playing on the professional circuit for the last three years, was proof of how successful the program could become.

During the Australia Open in 2009 we worked with quite a few players such as Evgeny Korolev, Sorana Cristea, Sania Mirza, Ana Ivanovic, Raluca Olaru, Sabine Lisicky, Annabel Medina Geruigas, Laura Robson en Fernando Verdasco. All these players have been in the program for quite some time.

Verdasco’s improvements lifts him to #9

At the time of writing this column I am in Las Vegas to prepare a large number Adidas players for Indian Wells and Miami. One of these players is Fernando Verdasco, with whom I have been working with since December 2007. His ranking at that time was 35 and, after Roland Garros 2008, I advised him to further improve his body strength and to start working with Gil Reyes. After a succesful trial period of 2 weeks at the beginning of the hard court season in 2008 Fernando and his Father agreed to work with Gil. Fernando's playing standard steadily improved and, with our extra training in November 08 in Amsterdam, we made sure he was perfectly prepared for the Davis Cup Final. Fernando Verdasco came through a tense five-set encounter with Jose Acasuso to hand Spain the hard-earned Davis Cup victory over Argentina.

And at the Australian Open of 2009 everybody witnessed Fernando's major improvements. He pushed Nadal to the limit and proved to be a fearless and unyielding opponent. Their marathon semi final took 5 hours and 14 minutes, the longest match in Australian Open history. Next to a classic that will age gracefully in the longer run of history, Verdasco reached a top 10 ranking for the first time in his tennis career!