My OrangeCoach
Prepare for R. Garros
Fellow Tennis coach Darren Cahill has joined the Adidas Player Development Program and I will work with him and Gil Reyes in nurturing the Adidas Tennis talents over the coming years. I know Darren for quite some time now and I am really looking forward to working with him again. We will join forces for the first time in Spain during the Madrid Open. Darren and I will work as the on-court coaches and advisors, while Gil Reyes provides players with off-court fitness training and mentoring. I personally think Darren is one of the best tennis coaches in the world. He was a former professional tennis player and made his name as a coach working with the eight-time Grand Slam Champion Andre Agassi for nearly two decades. This means another world class coach to help shape and mentor our players as they climb to new heights in the junior and professional rankings.
Tennis Product Specialist
Since September 2007, I have an on-court assistant: Matthias Merkel (Mats). Mats, 24 years old, is from Germany and has his German tennis coaching certificates. He is currently studying International Business and Communications. Mats and I met at Adidas when he did his internship with Product Development (marketing) at the German HQ of Adidas.
Because Adidas is a leader in tennis footwear and apparel supplying, there is obviously also great focus on the products and apparel. Mats Merkel provides support to the players through his role as hitting partner and is a direct link to the players on product testing. He also helps to distribute the (new) footwear and apparel to all the Adidas Players and makes sure everybody gets what they should get. The distribution of products & apparel happens almost at the same time the new tennis collections are presented. The timing of the presentations of the new collections is linked to the following tournaments:
- Australian Open
- Miami (clay court footwear & apparel)
- Roland Garros
- Wimbledon
- Us Open
Madrid Open 2009
The tournament in Madrid is a so called combined tournament. This means both Men and Women will play during this event (just like a Grand Slam Tournament). The first time I heard of the plans for a Tournament in Madrid was in November 2007, when I was coaching Ana Ivanovic during the Championships. Ana had been invited by Mr. Tiriac, the owner of the Madrid Open, to hit the first ball in the new stadium.
This year we will work with a lot of players during the combined tournament. And because the Development Program strives to complement the player's own team with additional advice and motivation, a lot of people are involved. This means a lot of planning & communication for Mats, who is responsible for this aspect of the program. And with Darren on the team this will only increase because extra players have been added to the program.
I have been in Madrid since the First week of May (Darren arrived in the second week). We are working with the same players we also guided in Miami and Indian Wells:
We have prepared all the players extensively and we are looking forward to the on-court challenges in Spain.
On tour report met Tennis direct.nl!
Tennis direct.nl will accompany us for one day during Roland Garros (may 24 - June 7). So if you are interested in our work for Adidas during a Grand Slam (third person view) you got to read our next column.
Kind Regards,
Sven Groeneveld
On-court training advisor Adidas Player Program
Director Of Coaching OrangeCoach