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Frosty-Shower-7601 t1_iz3gu7t wrote

Reply to comment by St3v3nMS3 in Tennis icon Bollettieri, coach for 10 No. 1s, dies. by PrincessBananas85

He probably "coached" 15,000 during his time at the Academy. The guy was a great promoter of himself. He definitely helped some kids, but the vast majority of his students think he knew little to nothing about tennis. It's impressive, but mainly because he realized he could get all of that talent in one place because no one else was developing young talent in the sport on a mass level. He did put the academy together, you can't deny he had a good idea and it worked.

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mermicide t1_iz3uiak wrote

What the hell are you talking about - this man was so widely respected in the tennis community for his coaching especially.

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userwithusername t1_iz4l7yh wrote

He went against the grain and preached working on strengths instead of weaknesses, which I always found so interesting. Got a good forehand? Run around the backhand. Got a good good serve? Spend more time on practicing the serve.

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Former-Ad-9223 t1_iz6kn49 wrote

Seriously? So many upvotes, but what Frosty-Shower said is basically correct.

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mermicide t1_iz6v8e9 wrote

Cuz he was wrong… this man charged $2k an hr for lessons that people happily paid. My wife is a former WTA player, the consensus among professional tennis players is that he was the best and is well respected.

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Frosty-Shower-7601 t1_iz4pg9c wrote

Hmmmm, where are you getting that? He was at the very least "controversial" as a coach. He self-admittedly knows very little about tennis. He was mostly about branding the academy. He did something no one else did. I'll give him that. Great tennis coach? I don't think so.

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[deleted] t1_iz5n4ip wrote

[deleted]

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Former-Ad-9223 t1_iz6kw1k wrote

It is a well known fact (if you follow tennis) that Bolletieri didn't know much about tennis. The downvotes tell me that most people are at most casual tennis fans

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Frosty-Shower-7601 t1_iz6nwzn wrote

Agreed. His name is associated with a lot of great players. Not really the same as being a great coach. He had an innovative idea, and had a mass pool of talent. He gets some credit, but he's not Paula Anacone, Brad Gilbert, Darren Cahill, or a host of other coaches.

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basjaski t1_iz49c97 wrote

sounds like a very cheap excuse from those that didn't make it.

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Frosty-Shower-7601 t1_iz4t3bt wrote

I haven't read all the bios but I have read these three: Agassi, Seles, and Courier disliked him and said he did nothing for their game. Agassi and Seles said he actually regressed their game. Agassi's career took a massive upswing when he finally got Brad Gilbert as a coach. Seles said NB made her change her two-hander for a one-hander on her groundstrokes, which caused her game to slip and when she went back to her two hander he kicked her out of school. When you say he "coached" 10 number 1's, it doesn't mean he was coaching them when they were number one. He had the largest group of talent in the world at his academy. Many later became number one.

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