Australian Tennis Open 2017

[antdad]

Discovery are in dispute with Sky and might pull their programming off the platform (including Eurosport)

Let me guess (honestly don't know) Serena wins in two sets in an hour or so, never a good game between them.

[finchman]

That bird who won the womens final has a cracking pair of tits.

[tennisman]

Attn. Tennisman. I just heard Nick Bollettieri on the radio prior to the Williams final, tell me, is he as bigger cunt as he seems? He comes across like a tennis version of Don King. Blathering on about how he cares about the players blah blah blah. No mention of the vast sums of money he squeezes out of impoverished families for a fleeting chance of fame and money, no mention of the shattering failures of young men and women. I'm sure Agassi probably had something to say about him in his biography. Can you enlighten us? Have I got Nick all wrong?

Whilst I am not Nick's PRO, in a word, I think the answer to your question is YES.

Boll was a bog standard teaching pro who got lucky / did well with a couple of talented juniors in the late 70's and one by one players came to him until he had to create his academy.

The number of players who have been through his coaching method and either played tennis at college, gone on to play in the pros and / or become coaches is probably a huge number since the early 1980's.

With Arias and Krickstein, his method built around the huge forehand then got more and more focus and others came to him (its a long list); he worked with Agassi, Becker, Seles, Kornikova, Sharapova etc etc etc.

From what I gleaned whilst still in tennis coaching, long ago, the academy's stopped promising parents that they'd get them to the pros, let alone to the top. In fact, I don't' think they ever have promised that.

They don't at Newks academy where I went for my Tennis Fantasy Camps, a place full of talented and motivate kids.

Impoverished families probably won't be seen anywhere near his academy. The families I've met there were very middle class or higher (in US income terms). The impoverished are not in the target audience for such places. If they find a really talented kid from such a background, they do scholarships.

Yes, they have done well out of parent's desire to help their kids follow the dream. But for many years now, most parents understand that if they can afford it, sending their kid to somewhere like Nick's or Saddlebrook (Hopmans) or similar (Newks) will give their kid a chance and be a good experience, hopefully, if nowt else. Very few believe that their kid will become the next top star, although that dream will be somewhere in the mix; arguably it's needed to help fuel desire / motivation in order to do the work on a daily basis.

Boll has never been a good businessman and although he lives a nice life, he has 4 ex wives to pay alimony to and as I understand it, he was in financial difficulties when IMG bought his academy and broadened the offering out to include sections for Soccer, Baseball and Basketball in addition to tennis (I've been and seen the academy in Florida - it's huge).

There, that's a start of a response

[carcinogen]

Comprehensive, enlightening and well written as always. Thank you so much.

[tennisman]

Comprehensive, enlightening and well written as always. Thank you so much.

Thanks.

Thing is, there may be some sense in your views above; as often it depends which way you look at it.

I do know that having read a couple of Bolls books and listened to him on 5Live during Wimbledon over the last few years, when he speaks, I want to listen.

The owner of the Tennis Fantasy Camp business which I attended all those years, in Cincinnatti, Steve Contardi, whose views I respect, worked for a time with Nick and speaks well of him.

In many ways, if Boll is okay by Steve (who has been teaching for 35 years and run a big club in Cinci for most of that time), then he's okay with me.

Through his link with Boll, Steve and family often put Andre up in their house when he went to Cinci for the pre-US Open tournament there.

PS A little Boll story I've just remembered.

Back in the late 1990's just after she had won the French Open, Iva Majoli was brought down to the David Lloyd Club where I was running the junior tennis.

At that time, I took 4 courts all day for group lessons.

During Wimbledon, there was an open arrangement for the pros to use the club subject to court availability.

Boll was shown down to me with Majoli and Tommy Haas in tow (then a rising star). I immediately reorganised the group who were on at the time and told Nick to take the 4th courts for Iva and Tommy.

Afterwards, he spoke to all the kids and signed a photocopy of one of his tips which coincidentally, I had photocopied from Tennis Magazine and was handing out to all the kids through the day.

I didn't ask him to sign them but when I showed them to him, he asked me if I had a pen. Producing one, he spent the next 5 minutes signing them all whilst we chatted.

I thought that was a great touch.

[The Ghost of Alex Higgins]

NEW BLOOD PLEASE

[Jonathan]

Going to a 5th set though currently a medical timeout

[The Ghost of Alex Higgins]

Is Britain's Andy Murray the only player that DOESN'T FUCKING CHEAT

[kancutlawns]

I've just turned on to watch. Come on Tim!

[kancutlawns]

Come on Nads!

[kancutlawns]

Seriously good match though.

[kancutlawns]

Awesome Fed! Champion.

[Zambo]

To come back after 6 months out and produce a tournament like that was magnificent.

The difference for me about Federer, was he'd got his backand working much much better.

[deisegirl]

Haven't watched tennis in yees and yees but think Fed is a class act

[Lou Grant]

It's been a momentous day for tennis -

In a WTA match in Russia, Elise Mertens was awarded her match at 5-5 in the third set 30-30 when her opponent pulled her shorts down, pointed her bottom at the umpire and said: "You know what you can kiss, right?"