關於教練的報導 - 網球

http://0rz.tw/qz5XO

Global Coach Takes on Challenge in Roddick

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: January 18, 2009

裡面有提到Andy最近減重15磅
因為教練說服他 190-195磅的人才能拿冠軍
而當年Andy拿冠軍的時候 也是在那個體重範圍內^^"

教練07年幫助González打入澳網決賽
他覺得Andy更有為了奪冠而犧牲的意願
所以同意擔任Andy的教練

MELBOURNE, Australia — As a young man, Larry Stefanki remembers his
father-in-law, the former N.F.L. quarterback John Brodie, offering some
career advice: “Get out of your comfort zone.”

For most of his adult life, Stefanki has done just that. He has traveled the
world and worked with it, too, parlaying an adventurous spirit, an early
connection with John McEnroe and his own positive energy and tactical acumen
into a career as one of the top coaches in tennis.
What began as a helping hand for McEnroe, his childhood friend, in the final
two years of McEnroe’s tour-level career in 1991 and 1992 has continued as a
much more diverse cultural experience.

Stefanki helped Marcelo Rios, a crotchety Chilean, reach No. 1 in the world,
then did the same for Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a moody Russian with silken ground
strokes who had managed to navigate his way through the chaotic breakup of
the Soviet Union.

Stefanki also coached three less-challenging characters who all reached the
top five: Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, Tim Henman of Britain and, most recently,
Rios’s more amenable countryman Fernando González.

But now, after nearly 15 years of exploring the strengths and fault lines of
players from other countries, Stefanki has returned to more familiar
territory. For the first time since working with Patrick McEnroe and his
doubles partner, Jonathan Stark, in 1993, Stefanki is coaching an American:
Andy Roddick.

It is an assignment that still represents a major challenge. The huge-serving
Roddick, a former United States Open champion and a longtime fixture near the
top, lost touch with the leaders last season, struggling at the major events
and finishing with a No. 8 ranking.

Roddick’s power game is no longer leaving the same sorts of dents in his
opponents’ defenses, and he will now try to reverse that unsettling trend at
an age — 26 — when most tennis stars have already peaked.

Stefanki, no stranger to helping players in midcareer funks, said he sensed
no dimming of the flame.

“Andy’s been pretty exceptional when it comes to the work ethic, which is
nice to see for a guy who is 26, who has been the No. 1 American for six or
seven years,” Stefanki said in a telephone interview last week.

“Andy is still highly motivated to get back in the top four or five in the
world. That’s among his goals and to win another slam. He believes he’s
going to win one, and I think he’s going to win one myself, or I wouldn’t
be doing the job.”

Roddick said a shoulder injury that troubled him in 2008 had been resolved,
and according to Stefanki, Roddick also lost nearly 15 pounds in the short
off-season by altering his diet and emphasizing whole foods. Stefanki said he
was convinced that the speed of the modern game made it difficult for players
over 200 pounds to challenge for a Grand Slam title.

“I was a little shocked that his weight was as high as it was,” Stefanki
said. “And I said to him, ‘No, you have to be 190 to 195.’ He told me: ‘
There’s no way I’m getting that thin. I haven’t been that thin since I was
21.’

“And I said: ‘Yeah but what happened when you were 21? You won a slam.’ ”

Roddick started this season in style, reaching the final in Doha, Qatar,
before losing to Andy Murray. But it will not get easier from here with all
the established and emerging talent in the sport. (Roddick won his
first-round match Monday in straight sets.)

Stefanki said he spent five close-to-sleepless nights making his decision
last November after Roddick offered him the position. Stefanki had developed
a close relationship with González and his family, helping him slim down and
craft a more tactically sound game and reach the final of the 2007 Australian
Open.

Stefanki, now 51, said he was ultimately swayed by his sense that González,
unlike Roddick, was no longer quite so prepared to make huge sacrifices to
win and also by his desire to help his dream of coaching promising American
juniors from his base in Encinitas, Calif., near San Diego.

Stefanki, who played tennis at the University of California at Berkeley,
never scaled the heights as a player, failing to break into the top 30. He
won just one tournament in singles, and that came after he received a wild
card into the 1985 La Quinta event as the club professional.

But having coached Roddick, the most visible American player of his
generation, certainly will not hurt Stefanki’s credibility with future
prospects in the United States if he decides to open an academy or coach
privately.

“When Andy called, I just felt it was the right time,” Stefanki said. “
When I stop traveling in three or four years, Andy will probably be one of
the last guys I work with, if not the last guy, so then I can start working
with American juniors and get these kids to get a little bigger picture on
the global spectrum of what it’s going to really take to be a high-level
professional tennis player.”

According to Stefanki, what it takes is getting outside one’s comfort zone.

“Until you do, you never know how good you can really be,” he said. “Get
over there to Europe. Go over to Russia. Go over to Africa and go wherever it
is and see if you can win with bad balls on bad courts with bad umpires, and
then you know, you really know, you can play. A lot of these kids in the
States, I just don’t think they’re getting the right advice. I just think
they’re soft.”


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