This St. Nick has been delivering for three decades
Posted by Peter Bodo, TENNIS.com
I just returned from a quick trip to the IMG Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, which is to tennis fans (and journalists) what the FAO Schwartz toy store in New York is to kids. December is one of my favorite times to visit with Nick. Most of his students are still there, and many of the top pros are also on hand, sharpening up their games before the holiday break and the start of the new year Down Under.
If I were in the habit of giving out a Man (or Woman) of the Year award based on contributions to the game (other than titles won or prize money earned), Nick would be in the running -- nothing new in that, because he'd be in the running every year. In 2008, Jelena Jankovic -- a Bollettieri protégée -- is the year-end WTA No. 1. She joins a distinguished list of Bollettieri-ites who hit the peak of the game, including Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova.
Nobody has contributed more to the game of tennis in the Open era than Nick, and it's because he's a great example of a certain kind of individual -- he's essentially a man of action, not theory or reflection. He's always forward-looking (you'd have to be, to marry eight times -- and that's no quip). Bollettieri set his sights on accomplishing something, started with a clean (read: prejudice-free) slate and dedicated every waking moment to his goal.
Nick is 77 now, and the tennis landscape has changed enormously in the three decades since he launched the NBTA. That Jankovic has slashed her way to the top is a testament to his flexibility and pervasive influence on the game. To attempt to judge Bollettieri by the yardstick applied to your generic "coach" is to shortchange him (although his coaching ability is underrated) and to misunderstand his place in the game.
First and foremost, the eponymous academy created -- and has sustained -- a remarkable hothouse atmosphere for tennis talent from around the world. There is no place anything like the NBTA, and it isn't because of any top-secret training techniques, high-tech facilities or special player services (although there are elements of all those things at his camp). It's because the academy is Nick Bollettieri -- it's the organic product of his unique, personal vision. No number of tennis coaches and MBAs could conceive and execute what he's created, even if they had all the resources in the world.
Bollettieri was prescient in creating an academy with a truly international flavor and mandate. This is ironic because one of the criticisms routinely leveled at him is that he's too "American." Like most criticisms of Bollettieri, it's rooted in style (mostly his personal style) rather than substance. The reality is that nobody has come close to creating a place -- or having a personal vision -- that is comparably targeted, dynamic, attractive (to potential players), flexible and international.
While following the instincts that led him in that direction, Bollettieri also shaped the way the game is played by most pros today: anchored but not chained to the baseline, reliant on at least one big weapon (usually the forehand) and portable to all surfaces (with the exception of the nearly extinct fast grass).
If you just look at technique, and the X's and O's of strategy, you are overlooking Bollettieri's most significant contribution to the game: himself.
Peter Bodo
