Lendl, Fish And Craybas To Assist USTA In Training Junior Boys


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Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

USTA Tennis News

Ivan Lendl has turned down all job offers since splitting with Andy Murray in March, 2014. Most notably he opted against coaching world no.6 Tomas Berdych who like Murray is London-bound this week for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Now Lendl has agreed to get back into coaching, but on a completely different level as the eight times Grand Slam event singles champion has committed to spend 50 days over the next year working for the United States Tennis Association with a small group of 15 and 16-year-old boys.

Lendl along with Mardy Fish and Jill Craybas have signed on a retainer with the USTA. “I enjoy working with younger players. You can form them and help them the most,” Lendl told The Associated Press. ”It’s just fun watching how they try to learn.

“They ask a lot of questions. They try different things. They’re just eager to get better. ‘You ask them how they think they will be playing in the future, what kind of style, and who their heroes are. You evaluate and establish what the weaknesses are. And then you design a program to work on those weaknesses.

”I really enjoy helping them conform to the way they think they should be playing. Unless, of course, we totally disagree about how they should play.”

Jez Green, the British-born fitness trainer who also worked with Murray but has been based in Florida for the last five years is also working with the small group.

Martin Blackman, the USTA’s Head of the Player Development program since succeeding Patrick McEnroe in April commends the new partnerships with Lendl, former world no. 7 Fish who retired a couple of months ago, and Craybas who played on the WTA until close to her 40th birthday.

”It gives our players a chance to make a connection to, and get training from, other players who have played at the highest level and kind of gives them a perspective for where the bar is in terms of what they can accomplish,” said Blackman.

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.