There was a first round match at the Qatar Total Open Tuesday that can only be described as unusual. Italian Francesca Schiavone has recently been the French Open Champion while Marion Bartoli of France was a Wimbledon finalist a couple of years ago. While Bartoli won the encounter using her double fisted ground strokes from both wings to recover from a 5-2 deficit in the first set and a straight set victory. Bartoli was also the subject of a news item on the sidelines of the event, where it was reported that she had split from her father who has coached her since childhood. A doctor by profession, Walter has been known for his obsession about his daughter’s game.
Certainly he is not the first one of a breed who live vicariously through the achievements of their offspring. The dean of tennis parents has been the the “Dad from hell” Damir Dokic who once famously threatened to assail the Australian ambassador’s car with a rocket propelled grenade after the ambassador had criticized him for physically abusing his daughter. He was kicked out of Wimbledon one year for assaulting a spectator. Mary Pierce, the French Open winner, also had a dad with a violent streak, while Andre Agassi’s father, a former Iranian boxer, used to arm himself with a hammer and strike it on a metal fence every time Andre missed a shot.
These parents are the extreme examples of many others who might prowl the major tournaments as well as the junior events, thinking that this obsession might in some way help their child. The result is invariably the opposite.
Caroline Wozniacki, the former world number one from Denmark, is also coached by her father who although not nearly the standard of the above group, looks to be passionate about his daughter’s tennis. In her first round match, after the first set, there was papa Wozniacki, down on one knee, coaching his daughter in a state approaching frenzy. Caro took the advice calmly as she was winning comfortably. But this parental involvement in a player’s game cannot be particularly salutary for the offspring. It has been reported that the father has said that when he is no longer needed, he would quit coaching her. The question is, whose call would that be? That Wozniacki has been slipping in the rankings and has not done well in the majors might be just such a cue.
The most successful parents have been those who stay in the background and let their children win or lose without making it a personal issue. Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena, had no tennis experience, but has admitted fathering the two daughters for the express purpose of turning them into champions. He had watched Martina Navratilova win a hundred thousand dollars for an hour’s worth of tennis and felt that this was something he could do with his kids. Growing up in a violent neighborhood of Los Angeles where they practiced on public courts amid gunfire, Williams then moved to Florida where he convinced local teaching pros to coach his daughters. The rest is history. The most successful siblings in the history of any sport have taken the women tennis world by storm. Elder sister Venus has been eclipsed by younger sister Serena who can lay serious claim to being the best player ever.
It is very difficult for a child to become a tennis star without parental support. But the parents must know when to step back, that there is a line that they should not cross. If they do cross that line then they are liable to do more damage to a player than any benefit that they might be imagining.
