Nick Bollettieri, the famed coach who guided tennis players including Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and the Williams sisters to top rankings, was back in his native Westchester to promote the game that has been his life”™s work.
The outspoken 80-year-old ”“ equally forthcoming about growing up in “North Pelham” and being married eight times as about his upcoming book and oh, yes, the state of tennis ”“ was here for TennisFest 2012 at the Saw Mill Club in Mount Kisco. The all-day, carnival-like event May 20 was a collaboration between the club, the United States Tennis Association and the United States Professional Tennis Association, which was also holding its Eastern Division annual conference there.
“It”™s sort of a weekend of tennis fun and tennis business,” says Kevin Kane, vice president and general manager of the sprawling club, where tennis ”“ a total of 13 courts ”“ is a key component of the multi-sport offerings.
The festival was designed to not only reconnect adults with the game but more important, to encourage young players by introducing and exploring the USTA”™s 10 and Under Tennis program that promotes learning through child-friendly equipment and rules. The event attracted some 1,000 participants.
Bollettieri, president and founder of IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla., has helped 10 players reach the No. 1 worldwide ranking and spends his days not only coaching but making appearances, giving motivational speeches, offering commentary for outlets ranging from ESPN to BBC Worldwide and serving multiple roles at the U.S. Open.
For young players who might dream of a professional career, Bollettieri offers sobering insight.
“As a player today, it is much more difficult to become a successful professional on the road,” he said. “Today, tennis is far different than it was in the ”™70s, ”™80s, ”™90s and early 2000s.”
In past decades, he said, players who were ranked in the top 100, even 150, in the world could secure sponsorships to fund expenses such as equipment and travel. Now, he said, support rarely reaches those outside the game”™s top 50, which leaves solid (but not star) players with great financial obstacles.
“Expenses are unbelievable,” Bollettieri said.
Even the game itself is different, he added. “The game has also dramatically changed. Pro players today are “bigger, stronger, faster.”
But the sport”™s popularity is on the upswing; in the last few years, he said, it “has picked up tremendously.”
Bollettieri, who spoke with up-and-coming players and parents as well as teachers and coaches during the weekend, said today”™s young players with Grand Slam dreams should certainly work on their game but also “concentrate on their education and try to secure a scholarship to college.”
He said he focuses his presentations on “what it takes to be a winner, not a champion” ”“ a winner embodies sportsmanship, he said.
Catching up with him just before he boarded a flight back to Florida, where he lives with his wife and two youngest children, Bollettieri spoke of how his signature facility has evolved. The Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, a 40-acre tennis training ground in 1978, now boasts 500 acres, features eight sports, employs more than 700 and serves 15,000 people each year.
Even with his whirlwind schedule, Bollettieri said he was happy to once again participate in TennisFest, first offered last year.
“The Saw Mill racquet club does an excellent job of giving the facilities for this weekend,” he said.
And Kane assures everyone it”™s an effort that will long continue. “We started planning the third one the day the people left.”
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