March 2008 -- The tremendous success of Spanish tennis is the result of a combination of many important factors. These include great weather that permits players to play outdoors and on clay year round, numerous clubs with tennis schools, an assortment of multilevel tournaments, and the involvement of many former professional players as coaches at the club and academy level. Then there's the fact that Spain has produced many of the world's top players in the past 20 years. The likes of Carlos Moya, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Rafael Nadal are great role models for today's aspiring players and serve as a strong testament to where Spanish tennis has been and will continue to go into the future.
Spanish Davis Cup captain Emilio Sánchez and his partner, Sergio Casal, established the Sánchez-Casal Academy as one of the elite academies in Europe when it opened almost 10 years ago in Barcelona, Spain. Since then, the training center has enjoyed great success with its player development program, begun to work closely with the Registro Profesional de Tenis for the accreditation of its coaches, and instituted a similar accreditation program to certify its teaching staff through the United States Professional Tennis Association.
With the opening of the U.S. branch of the Sánchez-Casal Academy at the Naples Tennis Club and Resort in June 2007, player development in the United States will add world-renowned Spanish methods of training to our country's other famed private academy systems. The Naples complex features 37 clay courts, one hard court and several coaches who have worked at the Barcelona branch of the Academy. Working with what they characterize as one shared vision, top competition combined with intensive training and personalized coaching, produces a player's best tennis.
According to Sánchez, the USPTA's support of the private academy system and now adding his academy's player development program is a validation of its successful method of training many junior and professional players. It is his hope that with the support of U.S. teaching professionals and players, the academy can assist in the development of American tennis by recruiting new players and offering a distinctive teaching perspective.
There are currently seven American men ranked in the top 100 and Sánchez said he believes his academy can help improve those numbers.
"The United States has not produced many male or female top 100 tour players in recent years," he said. "We hope to help America maintain itself as a tour leader along with countries such as Spain, Russia, Argentina and the upcoming Chinese."
At the professional level, American players' weaknesses on clay have been well chronicled. The surface has been a sink hole for many American pros, who grew up learning to play on faster hard courts where power and pace are key components to success. Sánchez believes Americans can benefit by responding to the demands clay courts place on players.
In this interview, the Davis Cup captain discusses his philosophy of player development, examines reasons why Spain has been more successful than the United States in developing top players in recent years and gives his opinion about a potential Davis Cup semifinal this year between the United States and Spain.
Luis Mediero: Why did you decide to establish a new branch of the Sánchez-Casal academy in Naples?
Emilio Sánchez: The deal came about because we wanted to do something abroad and the best place to do it was where the best academies in the world are located - the United States. The United States also has the biggest potential in terms of both tennis and academic studies for juniors because the college level is so good in America. Our main focus was to provide players with the best opportunities to study and play tennis at the same time, and we think the United States is the best place to do both. We had a couple of offers from facilities in California and we looked at a few different places. Then the possibility of doing something in Naples came up from the club. They were very keen on doing something big with us and we really liked the facility. We didn't open the academy there until June 2007 and the response from the kids has been very good. We're looking forward to the future in Naples; we really believe we have a great opportunity there.
Mediero: There are 12 Spanish men in the top 100, including four in the top 20. The United States, a larger country with a much greater population, only has seven men in the top 100, with Roddick and Blake the only Americans in the top 20. What are the biggest reasons for that disparity? Is it the way Americans train?
Sánchez: In my opinion, learning to play the game on clay does give you advantages that I think can be huge in today's tennis. When I played 20 years ago, you still had more specialists and people who were more strictly fast-surface players. If you see the tournaments today on the faster surfaces, everybody is playing the same type of tennis. The people who grew up on clay have a much bigger advantage because they have more knowledge and experience in actually constructing points. They have more patience, they understand what shots to play, how to use spins, and how to put points together. As the game becomes faster and players adjust to the pace these are all very important skills because it is very difficult to just serve someone off the court now. You have to know how to build a point.
Mediero: Kuznetsova, Murray and Hantuchova are among the players who have trained at the Sánchez-Casal Academy in Spain. What kind of competitive culture do you aspire to create in Naples?
Sánchez: We have worked with all of the players you name, but it's important to know we also have players at all levels - not only at the very high, elite levels, but also the junior levels. If a player comes to us at a medium under-14 level of play, this player will get the kind of professional treatment an elite player would receive if the player is willing to put in the hard work necessary. I can tell you the secret to improving as a tennis player is really not a big secret at all. The secret is to work as hard as you can work in a professional setting with top coaches and to have a high level of practice and competition. Competition and intensive training together are the best way to develop tennis players. If, for instance, you have a talented junior player and you keep him at the academy practicing at that level without competing at a higher level, then you're not teaching and challenging him how to succeed and reach his highest level. So it's very important to have the right people, experienced coaches who know how to train a player and how to create a productive program for that player.
Mediero: The USTA has partnered with the Evert Academy to open an 18,000-square-foot facility that will serve as a national headquarters for player development. Have you met with the USTA about possibly partnering with the Sánchez-Casal Academy for a player development program? If so, what has their response been?
Sánchez: We had a visit about a year ago from the USTA. Paul Roetert and Jay Berger came to Barcelona to meet with us. We discussed some things and I believe they were impressed with the personal approach we have and how intensive our academy is for the players. I think it will be good for the USTA in moving from Key Biscayne to Evert's Academy and that should help the players because if you take the best players and isolate them, then they're not going to improve. When the USTA met with us, we discussed a collaboration, but they decided to partner with Evert's. It was very disappointing because I believe that such a large organization as the USTA should work with all of the best academies, not be restricted to just one.
On the other side, I'm very proud and honored to be part of the player development committee from the USPTA, to share the room with some of the greatest like Groppel, Macci, Loehr, Porter, Bollettieri, Heckler and Mediero. It was a great experience and they were really keen in pursuing all of the ideas we discussed regarding American tennis. This is the way American player development should operate as they are the first ones interested in keeping tennis levels high.
We need to do the following to improve the overall game of tennis for the future:
- Promote more clubs with tennis schools and tournaments
- Help raise the competition level at clubs
- Create a new player development program in coordination with all institutions and academies
- Work in all geographic areas - don't focus only on Florida and California
- Collaborate with academies and/or competition coaches
- Use all of our resources to improve the game
If we work diligently in all of these areas, the United States will gradually develop more players who can take a shot at the top 100. The United States used to have 50 of the top 100 in the 1980s, but it has continued to drop since then.
Mediero: Maybe in 2008 Spain and the United States could play again in the semifinals of Davis Cup. Last year, Spain lost, but how do you see your chances this year?
Sánchez: Well, the United States is the defending champion, so they are confident, but it is a very demanding schedule and they had the support of Roddick and Blake. Hopefully they will maintain the same drive and determination, and we both can win and get the chance to play each other again - this time in Spain on very slow clay. We are looking forward to that after last year's hard loss.
Mediero: Last question. What can the academy at Naples offer to the USPTA members?
Sánchez: We can promise that the players who attend our academy will have access to one of Europe's most successful player development programs right here in the United States. In the event the members want to come with their students, we can offer some specific weeks of coaching with us. We will conduct a conference on Spanish tennis together with the RPT and the USPTA November 27-29, 2008.
You can review all of our programs at our Web site at www.asc-florida.com or contact Arantxa Gallastegui at 239-261-5777 for more information.
We will also have some special programs for Easter, spring break, the Orange Bowl, etc. We are able to personalize any training program based on the requirements from the USPTA membership or any of their groups.
Naples is a beautiful place, a great club and a great place for us to have our academy. So, we are looking forward to our work there. When people come to our academy they will be taken care of in a very personal and professional way. We have eight or nine coaches who played Davis Cup in the past, who have knowledge and experience in tennis and we're looking forward to doing great and positive things in the United States and for U.S. players.
