Eric este un bun prieten de-al meu caruia ii impartasesc experienta lui Andrei si ale carui sfaturi le pretuiesc.
Articolul este prezentarea experientei lui Andrei la Academia Sanchez-Casal din Barcelona, in saptamina in care a inceput acolo, in Ianuarie 2015.
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Hi Eric,
Habla Español? Como estas?
Happy New Year! Time is running fast. Here we are engaged again in a great experience. Just got back from Spain and here’s the story of the trip.
We flew on Sunday, changed the plane in Paris, and got in beautiful Barcelona on Monday around noon. Got to the hotel and then we went to Barceloneta, by subway. Wanted to get Andrei familiar with the city a little bit. The weather was great, upper sixties and sunny. We stopped by one of the many seafood restaurants and ordered Paela, their famous dish. Andrei like it, the food is outstanding in Spain. Then we went up on Ramblas, their most famous street, we tool a tour of their Gran Teatre de Liceu and visit La Boqueria, a beautiful market.
On Tuesday the academy picked us up from the hotel and we checked in. I was impressed of the level of security they have there. Andrei will share a bungalow with one more kid, his name is Joe, a the top U14 player in Wales. He’s the same age as Andrei and in same class. The staff at the academy did a great job pairing them. You will see in the clips as well, Joe is a tremendous player, with great shots, composure and work ethics. When we met with Joe’s mom of my first questions was: How long they will be there. Her answer caught me off-guard: Indefinitely! And she told me that it was his choice… Wow! Joe really wants to be a professional tennis player. That’s great! Here they are:
In the evening we went to the supermarket and bought some snacks for him, they do have a refrigerator in their room which is great. That evening we went together, well, the three of us, and have the dinner at the academy. I was impressed of the services over there. The food is very well prepared, and absolutely no junk food or coke products can be spotted. They have a generous salad bar open for all the meals. For sure Andrei will eat better there, cause he’ll do a bigger effort and the food is great. Also I met there a romanian, he’s one of the chefs there and he was so excited to have Andrei there. At the academy there are many Romanians in the staff as well, and there are 4 players (2 girls and two boys, older them him).
On Wednesday the school started. I made sure he’s got all he needs, supplies, laptop, printer, etc. and arranged for him to attend the Spanish class as well. Initially they did not enroll him, cause the class started in September, but I told them that Andrei actually had Spanish lessons twice a week from September. And that learning Spanish was one of the reasons he’s there. They evaluated him and they accepted him in the class.
The school schedule is from 8 am to 2 pm with an hour break for lunch. Then, from 2pm to 3pm they have the first part of the tennis day, always on clay, then an hour of fitness follows. Before the fitness they are provided with a bottle of 1.5 litres of water and after fitness they are given a snack, either protein bars or a healthy sandwhich. From 4 to 6 they continue the drills, usually no different than for the first hours, one-on one or specific singles drills.
It’s a bit cold in Spain in January, but it’s a cold you could handle. It’s upper sixties in the afternoon and in the fifties in the evening. Everybody adjusts well, it’s not like the Nationals in Arizona where he played at 30 degrees!
Before we go to the technical section I need to tell you one more thing. All the kids I’ve seen there enjoyed it. There are kids as young as 10 years old who are boarded there. There was also a group of kids of 8 years old, so cute, and they had so much fun over there. Those kids live with their parents outside of the premises, in the nearby city (a nice resort, Casteldefels) and the academy van is picking them up and dropping them off home in the evening.
At 2pm on Wednesday Andrei started the tennis program. I met with his assigned coach – Ezequiel Esain, from Argentina. He was Del Potro’s sparring partner until last year when he joined the academy. I liked this guy from the very beginning. He’s got the profile of the coach I looked for so long… He CARES! He’s passionate about the job, as all of the coaches over there are. And he’s a damn good tennis player. I watched him carefully. He quickly spotted the issues on Andrei’s game. But what really, really impressed me was the level of engagement. One extremely important detail. They NEVER put two players on the same side of the court, unless they play doubles. I can’t but notice the handicap instilled to ALL the players in US, who play on crowded courts, they play on half of the court only and and miss the most important aspect in tennis, the movement. That’s why academies will always be superior in Europe, not to mentioned the …growing on clay effect. At Bollettieri, when I had Andrei for a couple of days, or Evert, they also had several kids on the court, which is counter-productive.
Andrei knew what to expect from the actual drill, the Spanish method, I showed it on youtube. I was extremely pleased to see how quickly he adjusted. It’s true that Andrei will need to work hard to please his coach, cause, that’s the beauty of their teaching style, the coach does not look where the ball lands ever. Do you remember those drills Armand did, where he forced Andrei to hit at the targets and how proud was I seeing how accurate he could be? Well, so stupid I was… Cause now I know the price of those drills…Andrei has a great feel of the ball but he always compensated to catch up for the sloppy movement. Of course, sometimes his movement is like Federer’s, I know, and you could see it on that clip, but I know he would push the ball with no pace to the target. That was the source of our (mine and his coach) first conflict, cause I TOLD him NOT to let Andrei put the ball on the target by slowing down his shots. Of course he insisted he is right…and obviously he is not! The guys in Spain are, cause they first develop the balance. And they don’t neglect the speed of the shot, watch how the coach count: one-two and expect the player to hit immediately after. You will see in the clips how easily they could get the player OFF-BALANCE providing balls apparently with no challenge whatsoever. It’s interesting their teaching method where they CONTINUOUSLY move the player in X or V patterns. And they are able to do that even in rallies, that’s not for everybody (a glimpse of this is at the end of the second clip). Federer very seldom moves in these patterns, he owns the baseline, and Andrei does it too, but when he plays a player who is able to produce high spin, there is no way to hit from inside the baseline, even Agassi would have lost badly to Nadal if playing now. So I am trying to explain this to Andrei, cause he looks puzzled, he knows, he feels his style. I tell him that ‘You need to learn how to move on the court. Way too often you hit in unbalanced position, late, or too high. I am confident he will be a better player by learning that technique. Of course I hope he will maintain his aggressive style, while being more versatile on the court. Here’s a very interesting comment from youtube, from a guy from Holland who warned me about a specific risk at the academy ‘ I do compare him with Roger Federer. I like his style. His instincts are great. He can be a really great tennis player. Just a little advice: don’t talk to him about tactics, he already knows. I am from Holland and we had a player with similar instincts and they destroyed his career by interfering with his choices. I will keep following him on youtube.’
So what do you think Eric? Speaking to Mr. Casal I think this task (of letting him developing his own style) seems challenging to me. He mentioned to me for instance they don’t let the kids developing bad habits, such as drop-shoting… Well, if you watch most of his volleys, even spectacular, they are late, he needs to learn how to relentlessly attacking that ball in the air and steal every single millisecond he could. For this reason, he waits for the ball to bounce sometimes and picking it up with a dropshots. His dropshots are amazing, I would challenge 99% of the players, even some of the pros, they would not be able to feel the ball like Andrei. But Andrei got good at this technique because he waited for the balls too long, so he was forced to be good at this… So yes, I hope he will learn the bread and butter but still maintain his intangible shots. These days, you need need those shots to make a difference as well. By the way, guess what they teach if the ball drops too low? To retreat and hit a normal forehand or backhand. Interesting! I still see the value of this exercise though. When you retreat, to the service line, the ball jumps and the court opens wide. Watch how he’s coaching Joe, and tell him: ‘If the ball is not short, you move back’…
The backhand. Ezequiel does not like the preparation for the defensive backhand. I don’t like it either but no way I could make Andrei understand how important is to work on this. Look on the logo I have on youtube. Andrei is finishing the shot sideways. I captured a picture, you will see it in the clips, he is backwards! That’s because he did not charge the left foot. The coach shows him how to use the left leg. It’s not easy to do it when you did not have that motion. Because of this, Andrei actually moves his shoulder upwards and backwards instead of forward. We will see, hopefully him getting stronger he’ll be able to pivot around the right foot and transfer the weight fully forward. On static balls he does manage to efficiently transfer the weight, but on high spin balls or deep balls that is not that easy. Six months will make a huge difference. While I was reluctant to allow changes of the mechanics on his strokes, for instance he’s told now to use a semi open stance for the forehand…I believe that he will get a better player. He will definitely keep the open stance for the forehand but he will feel more comfortable to use a semi-open or closed stance and generate even more power to the shots and, in general, he’ll become more versatile. He just needed this instruction. It’s interesting cause for the same money for a lesson in Michigan at the academy in Spain you get 3 hours of tennis (at least an hour one-on one), one hour of fitness, accommodation, school, and three meals a day… Wow!
I got a chance to speak with their head coach Mr. Jimenez, former Davis Cup player for Spain. He noticed how natural and easy Andrei hits the ball and he said he looks forward to work with him. They will update me every month, so I look forward to see Andrei’s progress.
I also like how Andrei quickly adjusted to the environment. He is in a group with 5 more kids, all the same age, all STRONG players, one from US, one from UK, one from Chile, one from Italy, and one from Russia. I was impressed of the quality of the instruction. No way we get similar training in Michigan or anywhere outside of an academy. Andrei likes it as well, and hope he’ll stay healthy and not injured to take advantage of this great opportunity.
Picture this, Eric. They have a physiotherapist on site, psychology sessions monthly, they have soccer, basketball, volleyball, paddle courts, table tennis tables available, pool, sauna, stringing on site, tennis shop, and so many amenities. It’s like a 5 star resort. All you need is to bring a towel, a racquet and…commitment, of course.
It costs the same as in US, around 30k for 6 months (probably 50k for the year). Lots of money of course. But for the same money, and same academies (Casal in Barcelona and Sanchez in Naples, FL) which one would be better? Of course the one in Spain, cause the income is several times less there, so they can provide more for the same money, I could see it, they don’t cut corners, it’s an exceptional academy. Also this academy produced current Top 10 players, Murray, Dimitrov, Kuznetsova, all different styles. What are the chances to be coached, even occasionally, by a former number #1 in the world in US, or elsewhere? Zero.
Now I have some time for myself in Michigan, I will be very busy at work and I want to start playing tennis at least twice a week with the buddies in my league. I miss Andrei but I am happy he’s on good hands and look forward to see his progress in March, during the Spring Break.
Here’s the clips I made. Hope you will like them. Please let me know what you think.
Regards,
Cristian
