ATP Tour - WTA halts on-court coaching trial

Eurosport - Sat, 26 Jul 07:16:00 2008

The WTA Tour has indefinitely suspended its two-year experiment with on-court coaching.

TENNIS: Austria's Tamira Paszek and coach Richard Brooks - 0

"It's been suspended. The Tour will evaluate the results of the testing period and make a decision as to whether to adopt on-court coaching or not," WTA spokesman Andrew Walker said. "A specific timeframe for this decision has not been set."

The WTA Player Council attempted at this year's Wimbledon to organise a vote on the experiment but the players were divided in their opinions.

"I'm for it but they wanted more opinions," Player Council representative Patty Schnyder said at the Los Angeles Classic.

"The results weren't convincing enough and some of the younger players don't know what they want, so we need more time to see how they feel."

The controversial initiative, which was never tried out at the Grand Slam tournaments, provoked strong reactions from the players.

Some think that as an individual sport which encourages players to think for themselves, tennis should never allow coaches on court to give advice.

Others believe it would add entertainment value to the game as it would make coaches more visible to fans when they are called on court in between sets.

Experienced Russian Nadia Petrova has mixed feelings.

"It's a little distracting when you have coaches walking on court and most of them are parents, that's what I didn't like about it," Petrova said.

"On the other hand it worked perfectly for me. I just started working with my coach and he would come on court and give me advice. But now that it's over it's fine.

"Many players just use as a safeguard because they don't know what to do so their coach tells them. You have to use their head in matches."

Switzerland's Schnyder does not believe coaches can decide matches tactically but thinks they can have an important emotional influence.

"If the person's support is making you feel better and it helps the game's appeal overall, it's better," said Schnyder, who is coached by her husband Rainer Hoffman.

The Player Council will re-visit the issue at the tour championships in Doha in November.

Reuters

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  1. Not counting doubles, tennis is a one on one sport...not a one and a half on one! Its about time this 'experiment' was shelved! The women need to just get on with it...do their homework before the match and play the best they can!!

    From meandyou_jb, on Sat 26 Jul 3:22PM

  2. I think they should just allow all forms of on-court coaching, including signals and shouting from the stands. They're failing to enforce it anyway, and it could improve the quality of tennis. It's not like chess where the coach is telling the player what moves to make - it's the players who have to go out there and execute their game-plans. Bringing the coach onto court has limited entertainment-value if they're not miked up.

    From Andrew Broad, on Fri 25 Jul 10:19PM

  3. I for one don't like it. Tennis is a sport of the mind as much the body and as such if a player is not mentaly prepared for the battle at hand then the better equipped player should win out. It is analogous with taking a "comfort break" mid set and smacks to me of brinksmanship.

    Squiddy

    From Patrick, on Fri 25 Jul 6:47PM

  4. not to be allowed for sure

    From bukze, on Fri 25 Jul 9:37AM

  5. i think they shouldnt be allowed. what do you guys think

    From Gonzalo C, on Fri 25 Jul 8:41AM
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