Tennis coach to the pros comes to city

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This article was published 26/07/2010 (5546 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The world’s most famous tennis coach, Nick Bollettieri, has worked with Andre Agassi, Boris Becker and Maria Sharapova and now he is preparing to fine tune the games of Manitoba juniors.

The leader of the IMG Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla., arrived in Winnipeg Thursday to spend a week working with Greer Glodjo, the 10-year-old daughter of former Winnipeggers Arman Glodjo and Deidre Collette. He’ll also put on a clinic at the Winnipeg Winter Club on Tuesday, where he’ll instruct the top juniors in the province and answer questions from their parents.

While many budding Rafael Nadals and Steffi Grafs dream of playing on the professional tour, Bollettieri encourages them to use tennis as a means of getting a university education.

"If you can get a partial or full-time scholarship, my God, that would be just fabulous. You can’t neglect your education. At the academy, we try to make them athletes on the court and athletes in life," he said.

Over his career, Bollettieri, 78, has also worked with Venus and Serena Williams, Jim Courier, Martina Hingis, Jelena Jankovic and Marcelo Rios.

He hasn’t read Agassi’s autobiography, which came out last year, in which the eight-time Grand Slam winner repeatedly said he "hated" tennis because of the immense pressure put on him, primarily by his father.

"Andre was such a character. You never knew with Andre. He dressed differently and he had charisma that was beyond recognition. He’s happily married to Steffi Graf and he made $200 million to $300 million. Not too bad for being unhappy," Bollettieri said.

"I remember Andre doing more for the sport than 99 per cent of all tennis players. He created his foundation for 400 children. It’s about giving back. That’s what Andre is doing."

Arman Glodjo, a private-equity investor now based in Bermuda, said his daughter has been going to Bollettieri’s academy since she was five, a year after she started playing the game. She doesn’t play junior tournaments, on Bollettieri’s advice, but she’s working towards a college career or something even bigger.

"If my daughter became an Olympian for Canada, that would be super," he said.

This isn’t the first time local juniors have been able to learn from the best. Earlier this year, Bob Brett, an Australian who is Canada’s national coach and whose protegés include Becker, put on a couple of clinics for local juniors.

Glodjo said he’s going to take Bollettieri to see some of Manitoba’s sites, including Riding Mountain, Duck Mountain and Thunderbird Nest in the Lake Manitoba narrows, before he leaves at the end of next week.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca