Rain And More Rain in Timaru

Well tennis coaches must keep busy so I photoshopped this today ,let me say miserable weather in the South Island of New Zealand. I am putting up some story's on my blog over the next few days you could describe them with an old Movie Title , Sex , Lies And Video Tape ....well the Lies and the videotapes are correct :)

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Serena Adds Singles Olympic Gold

The Serena show rolls on!

"I always wanted to win a gold medal (in singles) secretly," she said Saturday shortly after dismissing Russian Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 on the same grass where she won the Wimbledon title last month, "and I've always said it doesn't matter because I already have a gold medal (in doubles), and I really believe that. But deep, deep, deep, deep down I wanted it in singles as well."

This was the one major title that had been missing on her résumé. Williams owns 14 Grand Slam singles championships, the most of any active woman. She had won the Olympic gold medal in doubles with her sister Venus in 2000 and 2008, but not the gold in singles. She and Venus will play for a third doubles gold Sunday.

"It's such an amazing feeling. I got it," she said. "I can't compare. I have it, I have them all so it's great feeling."

The stage had been set for drama. The Olympic gold medal match. Williams vs. Sharapova.

The last time Sharapova defeated Williams in a singles final came at this court at the 2004 Wimbledon Championship final. Both players Saturday were chasing career golden slams, a sweep of the four major titles and an Olympic gold.Serna also won Gold with Sister Venus in the Ladies Doubles final.

Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/70889204.html#ixzz22camTGWq

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Top 50 WTA Age percentages

As promised here is the Female Breakdown.The youngest inside the top 50 is 20 yrs. and the oldest is 32yrs.Some standout  men's and female stats, The largest group of players in the women are the 22-25 age groups which is around 50%.Whilst the the men is around 27% for the same age groups.In the female 26,27,28 has around 20%Whilst the men same age group brackets is around 38%.Ages 29-30 in the female runs around 18% and the men about 17%. In the 31+  Female there is just one player the men run around 9%. Men are playing longer .It shows clearly that female  peak earlier than male counterparts.

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Top 50 ATP Men / Age percentages

Roger Federer at 30 is the Number 1 ranked Male.Women Tomorrow
quote of the day and soon to be breaking news

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"

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Kids from Kerephei Primary School/Olympic Tennis

Thanks again for the pics from Piako Coach Clem Apted[ based in Te Aroha.] Clem worked with Waikato Sports to introduce kids [ from district schools] to Sports played at the Olympics these kids are from Kerepehi Primary School.

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A good assessment of Tomic

I came across an article on the net about Aussie Bernard Tomic. Its a pretty good assessment and this is what some of the article had to say


"Tomic has barely had to lift a finger during his short career. He achieved immense success in juniors solely down to his natural talents – slicing, dicing and reading opponents like a book without bothering to properly construct points. The success in juniors brought immense hype and self-hype which led tournament directors to toss a never-ending stream of wildcards in his direction (he received 10 wildcards in his first 15 tournaments of 2011) which were treated with arrogant indifference by Tomic as he only really put effort into the main events while tanking the rest. Finally, it’s all coming back to haunt him. His talent has fallen in place only a handful of times over the past eighteen months, while for the most part the ATP tour has been quite the culture shock. His weaknesses are being effortlessly exposed at all levels and the tactics he utilized so much in juniors are unsurprisingly laughably ineffective against professional tennis players. "Read the full artice here and check out some of the other posts by this contributor.LINK


Coming soon The American Coach who was not what he seemed  and how the vetting system of a club and association and National body of coaches was a complete farce.

New Kids on the Block Update -Who has made on the Pro Tour From Junior ITFdays

In 2008 I wrote an Article called New Kids on the block.It Listed the top 20 Junior Boys and Girls ITF junior World rankings. I thought it would be a great exercise 4 years on to have a look at that list and see where they are on the Pro Tour Present day 2012.Here is the link to the previous article Eye of The Tiger: New Kids on the Block. Lets look at the 2008 Boys rankings first.

1 YANG, Tsung-Hua TPE 21 2012 164

2 TOMIC, Bernard AUS 19 45

3 BERANKIS, Ricardas LT 22 148

4 DIMITROV, Grigor BUL 21 69

5 RAMIREZ, Cesar MEX 22 430

6 KONTINEN, Henri FIN 21 528

7 PEREIRA, Jose BRA 21 415

8 CUNHA, Henrique BRA 22 1383

9 HARRISON, Ryan USA 20 48

10 GOFFIN, David BEL 21 59

11 AREVALO, Marcelo ESA 21 411

12 JANOWICZ, Jerzy POL 21 109

13 VAZQUEZ-VALENZUELA, Juan ARG 21 697

14 GRIGOROV, Alexei RUS 22 1056

15 STEBE, Cedrik-Marcel GER 21 82

16 BHAMBRI, Yuki IND 20 220

17 KLAHN, Bradley USA 21 661

18 RUFIN, Guillaume FRA 22 142

19 SIRIBUTWONG, Peerakit THA 21 754

20 KUZNETSOV, Andrey RUS 21 137

The number at the start of the name on the left is what the player was ranked in 2008,the next number is their age now and the last in Red is current Pro Tour Ranking.Of course some of the younger players would of no doubt improved their junior ranking but this list is as they stood in 2008.Bernard Tomic is the best performed in the buys with a ranking of 45 on the senior tour he is also the youngest of this list still only 19.Ryan Harrison the young American has risen and at 20 is the next best at 48. Dimitrov who beat Tomic at Junior Wimbledon a couple of years ago is also promising and starting to have good results and is 69 and David Goffin from Belgium is 59.Stebe the German is 82.So the breakup is pretty telling from this group 1-20 0 players 20-40 0 players 40-60 3 players 60-80 1 player 100-200 5 players 200-400 1 player and 400+ 9 the biggest group. My first article said that not every one will transgress their junior ranking to the seniors and this is very much so looking at these stats.At the time I first wrote the article Logan Mackenzie from New Zealand at that time was 108 he went on to have a career junior high of 64 he sits currently ranked 1274 in the senior ranks at 22 years old.Its very hard to be a Pro even harder to be a high ranking one.

Will the Girls be the same, my first thought was the household names like Williams,Sharapova,Clijsters,Graf all had great results at a young age and were well on there way to greatness at the end of their teenage years.

1 RUS, Arantxa NED 21 67

2 HALEP, Simona ROU 20 45

3 OUDIN, Melanie USA 20 123

4 LERTCHEEWAKARN, THA 20 174

5 ROBSON, Laura GBR 18 113

6 BOGDAN, Elena ROU 20 235

7 BOGDAN, Ana ROU 19 558

8 JOVANOVSKI, SRB 20 93

9 NARA, Kurumi JPN 20 152

10 LYKINA, Ksenia RUS 22 341

11 ROMPIES, Jessy INA 22 578

12 KONTA, Johanna AUS 21 210

13 HERCOG, Polona SLO 21 63

14 HOFMANOVA, Nikola AUT 21 322

15 KERKHOVE, Lesley NED 20 396

16 KUCOVA, Kristina SVK 22 274

17 CHERNYAKOVA, Elena RUS 21 576

18 HENDLER, Tamaryn BEL 19 178

19 MLADENOVIC, Kristina FRA 19 154

20 MOORE, Jessica AUS 21 688

Simona Halep at 45 is the best ranked in the seniors from this group certainly no one yet pushing top 20.Watch out for Laura Robson GBR at 18 is the youngest of this list and had a great Junior career.Again no one has eqalled their junior best ranking yet.In 2008 New Zealand Sasha Jones at the time of writing was 165 she went on to a Junior career high of 11 and sits now at 173 on the Pro Tour. I will let you make your own assumption , I certainly have always said dont read into too much the Junior ITF rankings as prooven in this little exercise it is indeed harder to make it on the senior tour.Just recently befor Wimbledon I posted the top 10 girls in the current junior world rankings I will post the top 20 boys and Girls for 2012 as they stand now and maybe in a few years I will do the same exercise.

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Players Excel at South Island Junior Tournament

I attended the South Island Indoor Champs with a group of 7 players lending a hand with tournament preparation and support.Players ages ranged from 7 years to 13 years.As a coach you learn so much by watching your players compete in a tournament situation.Both the player and the coach comes away from events such as this learning a lot and going forward to the next event and of course what the goal for that player will be in their lesson plan for the next block period.Find Below a brief summary of each player.



Rebecca Delaway :Had an outstanding tournament reaching the Main Draw 14 Girls singles final.Watching Rebecca progress to the final it was great to see the improvement in 1.Serve, much more balanced and ball toss improved,Rebecca often throws in a few doubles but during this tournament the double faults were few and far between and this allowed Rebecca to keep up he momentum in buliding points especially on her serve.Reading the play is improving and of course this comes with more Match play and tournaments.Rebecca lost the final to the top seed from Christchurch 6-3 6-1 but a very close first set and even though the scoreline was 6-1 in the second Rebecca made her opponent work for her win.Rebecca and partner RileighFields took out second place in the combined 16/14 doubles.



Brylee More : Reached the final of the 10s Girls singles going down to the top seeded Auckland player Sarah Kate Weekley 9-1.Brylee on her way to final beat Emma White 9-0 from Southland and then 9-5 fellow North Otago player Mackenzie Phillips 9-5 in a great tussle.From the weekend I could see more point construction happening although in the Final Brylee was trying to finish the point too early however did make her oppenent work harder towards the end of the match.Brylee partnered Mackenzie Phillips where they had a Match point only to lose 9/8 against Weekley and White.This was an outstanding match and both girls fought back from a bad start to edge ahead.A tie break had to decide the match and the title.Fantastic effort girls! Great Tournament Brylee



Mackenzie Phillips: Mackenzie won the plate event for the 10 girls after losing to Brylee in the Main draw. I was very impressed with Mackenzie and she has made great inroads in the past 6 months,improving all aspects of her game. Her forehand return in the doubles proved devistating at times.

Her reading of the play and movement is another key area Mackenzie has worked on.She partnered Brylee in the doubles and as mentioned above lost a tense tiebreak to secure the runner up.Great tournament.



Jordan Phillips : Is only 7 and played her first major event. Jordan shows a lot of potential for age and she played some fantastic points over the weekend.Jordan really showed great concentration and took it too all that she played...even her sister Mackenzie : ) .This event will of helped you a lot Jordan and the experience gained is invaluable.Great Work Jordan



Kate Caldwell : This was Kates first event in the 14s age group and I am sure she learned a lot from her matches here. Kate played well to take the first set and then led 4-2 in the second in her first match , her oppoenent leveled and took the set and then the next to win in 3. Kate like many of us lets the thinking of how she had the lead in the second and two games away from winning the match take over.We cant change the past and must try to be positive for the rest of the match.It even happens to Federer Kate he blew a two sets to love lead last year at Wimbledon but he bounced back to win the event this year. Kates final match was a 6-2 6-1 loss and moving forward from here point contstruction and movement to shorter balls and the serve are areas to pinpoint at coaching. Well done Kate the experience gained will help enormously.



Josh Eckhold: Could of played in the 10s event but elected to play 12s and played some good tough matches.This time last year Josh had not developed into the player he is today.Point construction, technique and not dropping the old head has been major improvements in Josh's game.

Josh is now competing for every point and construction and keeping in the play is much improved. Josh no doubt will put some extra time into his backhand over the next training block.Well Done Josh



Nay Nay : Is only 9 but playing well above her age and is one of the best for age in New Zealand.Nay nay is also coached in Christchurch by Mark Wilson.Nay Nay is learning to develop her ability to maintain an acceptable level in match play, playing tough on the key points can be installed at an early age and Nay Nay has the ability to improve this area and her 9-1 win over Tiesha Holden from Timaru was indeed very professional not allowing her opponent any free points and was hungry for all the points.After having a talk about her previous match and the ability to go out and be professional whoever the opponent ,paid off.I think Nay Nay took a lot out of this weekend.Well done.

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Wimbledon Day 14 Men's Singles Final

Roger Federer added another Wimbledon title equalling Pete Sampras with 7 titles.Murray again the Bridesmaid in his 4th Grandslam final.I for one thought Federer's grandslam winning was past him.Dont write of champions! Until 4 all in the second Murray was on top,but then Federer Magic kicked in,his all court game too good.Murray will rue the fact he hit a straightforward backhand return long off an ordinary second serve at breakpoint and 4-4.You miss your opportunity and it is gone as quick as it arrived.Federer wins the set and its 1-1 and then a rain delay.Federer until then had been fairly passive on his second serve return,but I am guessing his team reinforced how important it was to go after Andy's second serve.And he did! As I said yesterday in my post this would be a key factor,Feds average second serve speed was 98 MPH whilst Murray was 88MPH. Fed was in control his dropshots, his disguised slice approaches and the lobs over a stranded Andy was perfection. Murray was beaten by a better player and in some opinions the best that has ever played this game.I'm not a Murray fan but his emotional speech at the end showed his passion and the respect he has for his supporters.He tried his hardest and I have no doubt his committment and dedication.Well done Andy Murray you earned a lot of respect from the viewing public , dissapointed but Gallant in defeat.You did yourself and country Proud.

Roger is back ...he never went away but this week has put a little fear back into the Djoker and Rafa ,he has sent out a stern warning the "King" has regained the throne.

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Wimbledon Day 13 Men's Final

What a match up ....will Murray achieve what no other British player has done in the Modern Era?I thought Federer was past it to win another Grandslam title...how wrong I was when he put paid to Novak Djokovic the defending Champion.Whilst stats will be different against each opponent, things to note that Feds 1st serve percentage was 64% average speed of first serve was 118MPH.He won 75% of points from his first serve.He also won 72% of points from his second serve.Federer Will have to serve well today.Federer only made 10 unforced errors for the match.Murray does have a great return of serve.


Murray served at 60% Against Tsonga .He is going to have to at least match Fed with this stat.He did win 75 % from first serves.Murray's average first speed was 117 MPH so not a lot of difference here.Fed will return better than Tsonga did.Fed has a big edge on the second serve his average speed for his semi final was 102 MPH whilst Murray's average was just 88MPH. In a tight contest this could indeed be the telling factor.Murray made just 12 unforced errors. Fed has the edge on temperament ,and for one Murray's temperament is why I have not warmed to Murray due to his constant moaning to his players box.


Murray is a fierce competitor has he learned anything from his previous Grandslam losses? He may have but at the end of the day does his game have the substance to beat the Greatest ever male player of all time who also is chasing History.I have a feeling this could be an epic, I am hoping for a Fed win, whilst if Murray does get up it will be a reward for all his hard work starting from his juniors day.Its just the crap he goes on with on court that annoys me.Judy his mother was somewhat subdued in the Semi Final and lets hope her ass is glued to the seat today.


Finally someone tweeted that their could be a new williams on the horizon with Richard's wife expecting..Richard is 72 and if in 20 years we are watching another williams following in their sisters footsteps Richard will be 92....


My tip is Federer but anything is possible this WIMBLEDON even finally a home grown champion the first in 74 years.Murray has been pointing to the heavens after his matches this week..is he getting divine help maybe from Fred Perry HIMSELF the last British men's champ.And last but not least Conragulations Serena on her win in the singles and doubles with sister Venus.She is a champion and has added so much to the Sport.

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Wimbledon Day 12 Ladies Final Tips and comments

Centre Court: 14:00: (3) Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) vs (6) Serena Williams (USA)

* Ok there is life in the old dog yet,and Andy has finally cracked a shot at Wimbledon .More on that tomorrow.Today will be Serena Day as I have no doubts she will be lifting the plate today the oldest Lady's Champion in 22 years.After that her and sister Venus play for the doubles crown.When Venus was breaking on to the scene in her early days Mr Williams said well my youngest is better your not seen anything yet.Both are amongst the best that have ever played and Serena will be adding to those credentials today.

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Wimbledon Day 11 comments and tips.

Semi final day and this is going to tell us exactly who is here to Win.Alas Federer fans unless Djokovic suffers from his allergies Fed will be leaving us today.

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Wimbledon Day 10 Tips and comments

Centre Court (13:00 BST)


8-Angelique Kerber (Germany) v 3-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)

6-Serena Williams (U.S.) v 2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus)

* Kerber vs Radawanska is very hard to pick. I am going for the lefty

* Match of the day going for Serena

Listening to Radio Wimbledon yesterday as they broadcast the Ferrer /Murray match was like attending the Mad Hatters Tea Party , I swear one commentator was getting so excited that they wet themselves.In the end I had to mute it.

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Wimbledon Day 9 Tips and Comments

Centre Court (13:00 BST)

3-Roger Federer (Switzerland) v 26-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)

* Just a practice match for Fed

7-David Ferrer (Spain) v 4-Andy Murray (Britain)

* Can Murray win Wimbledon has been the talk...well he has to beat Ferrer first and lets hope David can take it to him.

Court One (13:00 BST)

1-Novak Djokoic (Serbia) v 31-Florian Mayer (Germany)

*Nice draw ,good practice Novak all the way

5-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) v 27-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany)

* The Germans are on a roll this year Would like to see Jo Wilfred get the money here.

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