[mn73]

Daniela Hantuchova's British coach Nigel Sears:

Ironically, on the day he was pondering the state of British tennis, Hantuchova was being knocked out of the $585,000 Paris event in the second round by Italy's Francesca Schiavone.

"That was the worst I have ever seen her play. Everything had been going so well recently. There was a great opportunity to move on in this tournament. She just didn't execute her opportunities - it was a horror," added Sears who had seen Hantuchova knock out seventh-seed Magdalena Maleeva in the first round here.

 

[thefreedesigner]

It depends.

Player-coach relationships are obviously very individual, depending on the personality nature of the player and of the coach, combined with how well the 2 go together.

Ordinarily, personally I would say it's never a good idea to criticise your charge in public. For what good does it actually do, that a private convo could not? Well, humilitation is the big thing, and the coach must be sure that the player's response to a public thrashing will spur them on, rather than drain of them of confidence.

If Daniela knows and understands she played "a horror", the impact of Sears's words may do limited damage, but I can't see it being helpful. Daniela is not Andre Agassi, she does not know her (tennis) mind as well as she'd like to yet, and I can't see his words as being constructive at all.

I don't know how what sort of relationship the 2 have, or how long he's been coaching her. He may just have been genuinely suprised at the defeat and was caught in an unguarded moment.

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

Nigel and Daniela have a great working relationship.

Nigel has also been insrumental in her rise to where she is.
He was also the coach that saw Coetzer rise from the 60's to where she got to.

What he says isn't that big a deal. I'm sure Daniela knows it was a missed chance as well.

He would have talked about it with Daniela.

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

Nigel started coaching her around Wimbledon 2001.

 

[thefreedesigner]

Thanks TBE. I didn't know it was Nigel who coached Amanda. I knew that she had a British coach at one point, and that they had a fantastic relationship.

Seems like he's seen the potential of Daniela and is working really well with her already.

 

[DutchieGirl]

Nigel and Daniela have a great working relationship.

Nigel has also been insrumental in her rise to where she is.
He was also the coach that saw Coetzer rise from the 60's to where she got to.

What he says isn't that big a deal. I'm sure Daniela knows it was a missed chance as well.

He would have talked about it with Daniela.

Sorry, but that's wrong. Nigel didn't take Amanda from the 60's to the top 20... that was Gavin Hopper. Nigel only came on the scene after Amanda and Gavin parted... Nigel only coached Amanda for just on two years (if that actually).

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

Never really thought Gavin Hopper was much of a coach, he was more of a fitness guru.

thanx Sarah for correcting me, I guess Amanda fans would know more.

 

[malaye]

Interesting thread. I guess a coach has a right to criticize his player, but certainly not publicly.

By the way, what Nigel Sears said about Daniela was nothing compared to Carlos Rodriguez comments after Justine’s defeat in the quarters at the AO (vs Kim).

He said about Justine : quote “She forgot to play with her head…I wonder what excuses she will come up with now… She bores the pants off me.”

These outrageous declarations caused quite a stir, and Rodriguez apologized to Justine, and publicly in the press (which was the least he could do !)

 

[DutchieGirl]

Never really thought Gavin Hopper was much of a coach, he was more of a fitness guru.

thanx Sarah for correcting me, I guess Amanda fans would know more.

Well, Gavin was the only one Amanda worked with from 95ish until mid 98... so he was pretty much her coach, but yeah he did really get her into shape more... but I know Nigel only took over at the end of 98... he was with her for the Ao in 99 and 00 and the split not long after that. But yeah, Amanda always said it was Gavin who helped to get her to #3... Nigel didn't do much for her really in terms of helping her get ranked higher again. Not that he's not a good coach though.

Now to answer the topic: No, I don't think he should have said that in public. I really don't think it will do Daniela much good, and it might even hurt her!

 

[RAA]

In a lot of other sports, coaches have press conferences and they comment publicly about their players' performance. You certainly don't hear it a lot in tennis or individual sports, but it happens all the time in basketball (mens and womens), football, soccer etc. ...
Ruth in Philly PA USA

 

[thefreedesigner]

soccer coaches (well, the good ones) generally only criticize in extrmeme circumstances. They'll do it if they're under pressure for their jobs, but generally don't. This can be annoying, but ultimately protects the team unity/solidarity.

 

[saki]

I just don't see how public criticism would help a player. Criticism in private is a necessity, but how can public humiliation do anything but harm?

 

[Adrian]

Only Daniela would know if what he said was an acceptable situation or not. If she says nothing in the next few days, then you know she accepts it for what it was..if she sacks him, then I guess she didn't take it too kindly

 

[Aloysius]

As TBE said, as long as Daniela already realized that she missed an opportunity, then Nigel's comments to the press would mean very little. And it didn't read to be too offensive anyway.

What was offensive was his lack of credit to Francesca Schiavone for going out there and taking away what Daniela supposedly handed to her. But I suppose it's not his place to talk about other players when he has his own charge to worry about.

 

[babsi]

Too many players are protected now and are treated like queens, imo they should be tough enough to take this kind of criticism. I think it is just a case of being cruel to be kind because her coach obviously cares about her and her results.

 

[apoet29]

I totally disagree with the idea of a coach publicly humiliating his or her player by criticizing his or her performance to the press. Not only will the player feel denigrated, but it will break the bond of trust between player and coach. I understand that coaches of top players and potential top players are always asked by the press right after a match for his or her comments and often if the player in question has played poorly, I'm sure that the coach will have a hard time containing his or her emotions. Yet, coaches need to remember that their job is not only to provide support, but to teach the player to learn from his or her mistakes. As a teacher myself, I would never criticize a student in front of other students or in the classroom. In fact, I don't believe that harsh criticism is a good way for anyone to learn. In closing, what goes on between coach and player needs to be kept between them.

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

Look at it another way

If Daniela played well and all she came up with was a 6-2 7-5 loss to Schiavone, then that is a much worse situation

Daniela didn't get to grip with Francesca's game, next time i'm sure she would have learned from this and she will seek out a better performance and hence result.

Daniela played like a "horror" equates to her playing way below her normal level.

 

[All4Williams]

I think that Nigel's comments were balanced. I read in them a great belief that he has in her - this is positive.
he says she missed opportunities - big deal ? Sure she did

"It was a Horror" - I guess this is the crunch of the matter. I seem to understand it the same way that Venus described her experience At the FO as a nightmare. IE something Nigel does not want to live through again. This displays a strong belief in Daniela.

I however did not like Carlos Rodriguez comments at the AO. They linguered in my mind especially "Against top players - Henin reverts to type" It was only Kim that Henin had lost to.It was almost as if Carlos Rodriguez 's EGO had been wounded!

 

[c2]

wow that is pretty frank

 

[maccardel]

That Carlos, I remember at Wimbly last year. Justine was in the final and in the second set she was adding pressure to Venus. The camera shot him just making these intimidating looks to Justine and she looked a bit afraid... He is so harsh and cruel to her...I think that she does not get along with her father and took the next man to be him unfortunately that man is Carlos.....