Parents as coaches

Have you heard of the dreadful soccer mums and dads getting pretty heated with umpires? Madness. I’ve always thought that had I had a talented tennis player son or daughter that in their early years all the driving to courts would have to be done by parents, but later if the child shows real promise that I would hand over the coaching to someone who knew what they were doing and didn’t have the intense relationship I would have with a child of mine. Then again, you think of all the sports in which girls (and boys) have been abused by coaches because a) coaches who are paedophiles go into that area and b) the coach also has a strong relationship with their charges and parents aren’t around to protect them. Controversially though, it isn’t only the stranger who commits child sexual or physical abuse. It may arise from someone in the family.


Consequently, I don’t think there can be hard and fast rules about who does the coaching. I remember watching a game at the Australian Open where Pete Sampras broke down while he was playing because his coach had recently died, so those bonds are strong.


The most outrageous example of having a father for a coach, who is not acting in the player’s interest has been Damir Dokic, father of Jelena Dokic. This has been covered in the Australian press a lot because Jelena played for and was Australian, but her father dominated her so much that Jelena always agreed with Damir’s complaints. This is difficult for the player especially when the father appears to be in a paranoid delusional state, accusing the Australian tennis officials of discriminating against his daughter when it came to seedings in one Australian Open. He has behaved badly across the world, cautioned by police at a Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Birmingham for abusive behaviour to both officials and players. After that Australian Open disaster, Jelena, still only very young, went with her father back to Serbia. Jelena changed her citizenship back to Serbian and refused to play for or come to Australia ever again. However, she has now cut all ties with her father. Her father isn’t keen on her choice of a Croatian boyfriend. Jelena has returned to Australia and will play for Australia again when she qualifies, but her tennis which started out so promisingly, has suffered a lot.


The rule under which Dokic was thrown out of Birmingham is informally known as the "Jim Pierce" rule, named after the father of French player, Mary. Pierce's was also highly publicized for his verbal abuse towards his daughter during a tournament. Mary broke with her father and is now playing as a 30 year old better than ever before. Both Pierce and Dokic were allegedly beaten by their fathers.


Croatian Mirjana Lucic has said that her father and coach, Marinko, terrorized her physically and mentally over a period of 10 years. Lucic and her family eventually fled to Florida and Mirjana has successfully rebuilt her life.


Martina Hingis was been coached by her single mother all her life. This must have led to an intense relationship. But her mother Melanie Molitor appeared to act in Martina’s interests. I remember when Martina lost to Steffi Graf in the French Open and was so upset she left the court side celebrations. It was her mother who sent her back. Now though Martina plays without her mother courtside and is doing well getting back into the top 20 after taking tennis up again in 2005.


BBC commentator, Chris Bowers, remembers a practice session when Steffi Graf was called away from her coach by her father, Peter, who was later imprisoned for tax evasion. "He shouted "Steffi, komm" and she just dropped everything and went," Bowers says.

We know though, that after her father was jailed, Steffi went on to become one of the best players ever. She now supports her husband Andre Agassi while he is on court.


Other families make sacrifices for their talented offspring. Anna Kournikova and her mother, Alla, left her father Sergei in and moved to , so that the 18 year old could attend the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. Jennifer Capriati's family also moved to Florida, but the pressure of breaking records from the age of 13 eventually led to well-publicized personal problems. The same has happened for Maria Sharapova, moving with her father to Florida from leaving her mother at home for 2 years. However, despite the fact that you can see her father coaching from the sidelines, his coaching doesn’t seem to have effected her game.



Richard Williams, father of sisters Venus and Serena, always ensures the story is raised about the family's poor background amongst the gangsters of Compton, Los Angeles. There are no such problems in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, where they live now. Both parents support their children despite now being separated. Venus and Serena would probably thank their father for his determination to make them tennis players and therefore rich given that one of their sisters was recently killed in their old poor neighbourhood.



Other parents have had an immensely positive effect on their children's career. Marisa Sánchez-Vicario, for example, has been by her daughter, Aranxta's side throughout her career. However, Monica Seles' tennis has suffered greatly since the death of her father, Karolj, who also had a healthy coaching relationship with his daughter.


Presumably, Lleyton Hewitt would say that his family has only had a positive effect on him, but he would I guess. I find it unhealthy that his parents still follow him wherever he goes and are always in his box. Bec seems not to mind, but towards the end of Lleyton Hewitt’s relationship with Kim Clijsters, you could see Kim moving further and further from the player’s box. It seems that you have to support Lleyton 100% or you are not favoured by the family. That doesn’t seem very healthy. Also, it’s a bit embarrassing as an Australian to see such a cohort of supporters every time Lleyton plays.