Nick Bollettieri: DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM - UBITENNIS
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Nick Bollettieri: DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

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In the first of a series of articles that Nick Bolletteri has agreed for Ubitennis to publish, the renowned tennis coach writes about how he created one of the most influential training centres in the history of tennis.

How could I have known that my two, broken down tennis courts in Victory Park was someday morph into the greatest athletic training facility that the world? How could I have imagined that those two courts, in North Miami Beach, Florida would one day lead to a training facility that would host 10 of the top tennis players in the world? How could anyone have predicted that those modest beginnings would one day become IMG Academies, training the finest athletes in the world, in nearly a dozen sports? Only a dreamer; someone who put no limits on his imagination! My life has been a series of opportunities; both seized and missed. Imagine this:

  1. I entered into teaching tennis by accident. I played college tennis but knew nothing about teaching the game.
  2. I had to earn some money to support my wife and son while attending the University of Miami Law School.
  3. I knew nothing about tennis and even less about how to teach it.
  4. I learned by watching the most respected coach in the Miami area. His name was Slim Harbett and he taught at Henderson Park.
  5. I listened intently and copied his techniques. Over time I developed my own teaching techniques and soon realized that I had an eye for talent and an even quicker eye for recognizing technical problems.
  6. I learned that making small adjustments was much more effective than making macro changes. Students got better more quickly and didn’t suffer the anguish of a major disruption of their games.

To cite two examples, Cheryl Smith won the Girls USTA National 14s. Cheryl was a steady baseliner. Brian Gottfried preferred coming to the net and volleying and became one of the top world-ranked players.

Yes, I have always been a dreamer. Far beyond what we would call normal ambition, I gave up on serious opportunities to achieve my goals. For example, I dropped out of law school after only 3 months, realizing, although I had a gift for law (I could sell sand in the desert), that it wasn’t the destination that was meant for me.

My uncle, Tony DeFillipo, who was head of the sanitation department in the City of North Miami Beach, and his best friend, Frank Sepedi, who has the Water Commissioner for the City, helped to change this small, broken down tennis facility. With their influence my small complex became an 8-court facility with lights. You see the picture? Two Big Hitters, Two Big Italians! Little by little I began to learn more about teaching tennis and one important realization, “No two players are alike.” My top students were Brian Gottfried, Cheryl Smith, Margie and David Gengler, George and Randi Shuert, Paul Kantrowich, Joe Szucs and a few others.

Before long, my name became attached to the excellence of my students and another big opportunity arose. I was offered the job of Director of Tennis for the City of Springfield, Ohio. The program there was only for the summers and had earned the reputation as one of the best junior programs in America. 1,500 youngsters, dressed in white clothing, attended each week. Although the children paid $.50 to travel on the bus, the instruction was absolutely free. My winters were spent at various clubs until another opportunity presented itself. With the support of the Passarell family, I became the tennis director of Laurance Rockefeller Hotels (Rock Resorts). I spent the next several winters in Puerto Rico running the tennis programs, which gave me the opportunity to meet some of the most influential people in the world. Some of those titans were: Bob Kraft, owner of the Boston Patriots, Louis Marx, whose father owned Marx Toys. (He later lent me $2 million to build the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy). Vince Lombardi, Coach of the Green Bay Packers, Carolina Murphy, the Horowitz Family, who would later support everything that I did in tennis, Dan Lufkin, the Carlson Family, the Landow Family, and the Zausner Family (who built the Port Washington Tennis Academy for me).

I realized that other tennis facilities were bigger, had rest rooms, club houses, etc. My facility had a few courts, a rock wall, a Pepsi machine and an umbrella serving as my pro shop. But I realized that success depended upon my willingness to devote my life to the sport; to get to know the kids and their families. It also allowed me to understand that “success” means different things to different people. To some, it meant learning to play a game that can last a lifetime. To others it meant making the high school or college tennis team. To still others it meant getting a college scholarship or playing on the pro circuit. It became clear to me that the aspirations of the player had a great deal to do with the outcome.

I have enjoyed a career that has helped thousands of players achieve their dreams. I’ve had ten number one players in the world and thousands who achieved the level of success that they aspired to. I must have been doing something right. I was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. This was followed my induction into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in recognition of my decades of commitment to the inner cities of America and my collaborations with tennis legend and humanitarian Arthur Ashe. Who could ask for a more rewarding life?

The IMG Academy was founded by Nick Bolletteri in 1978 and has been the training centre for some of the worlds best tennis players. Bolletteri has already coached ten world No.1 players, including Andre Agassi, Brois Becker, Martina Hingis, Venus and Serena Williams. The 400 acre complex trains 13,000 junior, collegiate, adult & professional athletes annually, including families and corporate groups,  from over 75 countries. To find out more about programs provided by the academy, visit https://www.imgacademy.com/

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Miami Open Daily Preview: Jannik Sinner Plays Daniil Medvedev in the Semifinals

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Jannik Sinner on Wednesday in Miami (twitter.com/miamiopen)

Semifinals in both men’s singles and women’s doubles will be played on Friday.

The men’s singles semifinals feature three of the top four seeds, but they do not include top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, who was upset by Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday evening.  Dimitrov will face Sascha Zverev on Friday for a spot in Sunday’s championship match.

The other men’s semi is a rematch of the epic Australian Open final, as well as a rematch from last year’s Miami final, between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev

And in the women’s doubles semifinals, it will be four Americans, two Italians, and a Canadian teaming with a Kiwi.

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Friday’s play gets underway at 1:00pm local time.


Daniil Medvedev (3) vs. Jannik Sinner (2) –  Not Before 3:00pm on Stadium Court

In the championship match of January’s Australian Open, an exhausted Medvedev, who had already played three five-setters, started out unusually aggressive.  It caught Sinner off-guard, and won Daniil the first two sets.  But Jannik showed an extreme amount of composure for someone down two sets in his first Major final, and rather comfortably claimed the next three, as well as the biggest title of his career.

Overall Medvedev leads their head-to-head 6-4, with all 10 meetings on hard courts.  However, you can divide their history into two parts.  Medvedev won the first six matches, with the most recent coming in the final of Miami a year ago.  Since then, Sinner has taken the last four, which all took place between this past October and January. 

In the absence of Djokovic, and with Alcaraz only winning one title since last July, these two are definitively the best two hard court players the ATP has to offer.  Since last summer, Sinner has reached six hard court finals, while Medvedev has reached five.  Yet notably, their results in those finals tell contrasting stories.  Jannik has gone 5-1, while Daniil has gone 0-5.

Sinner has been the ATP’s best big match player across the past six months.  And on Friday, he should be favored to earn his fifth consecutive victory over Medvedev.


Grigor Dimitrov (11) vs. Sascha Zverev (4) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court

Grigor Dimitrov just may be playing the best tennis of his career.  He simply outhit and outshined Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday night, mixing highlight-reel winners with a mature and composed demeanor.  Grigor has only been broken twice through four matches in Miami, and is into his third Masters 1000 semifinal out of the last four.  With a victory on Friday, the 32-year-old would return to the top 10 for the first time since 2018.

2018 was also the last time Zverev reached the final of this tournament.  But he’s just one win away from a repeat appearance, and has won all eight sets he’s played this fortnight.  Sascha has only been broken once to this stage, to reach just his second Masters 1000 semifinal since an ankle injury cut his 2022 season short in June of that year.

This rivalry has been nearly completely one-sided.  Dimitrov won their first matchup, a full decade ago when Zverev was still ranked outside the top 100.  But ever since, it’s been all Sacha, as he’s won the last seven.  The German will also be the much fresher player on Friday, as he’s spent considerably less time on court.  And as high as Grigor’s level has been, he remains just 2-8 in Masters 1000 semifinals.  I give the edge to Zverev to advance.


Other Notable Matches on Friday:

Asia Muhammad and Alycia Parks vs. Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe (2) – Muhammad and Parks are infrequent partners, yet have survived three deciding-set tiebreaks to reach this stage.  Dabrowski and Routliffe are the reigning US Open champions.

Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (ALT) vs. Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini (OSE) – Kenin and Mattek-Sands already won a title this season (Abu Dhabi), as have Errani and Paolini, who were victorious in Linz.


Friday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Undeterred Danielle Collins Hits Back At Those Questioning Retirement Decision

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Danielle Collins is two wins away from claiming the biggest title of her career in Miami but no matter what happens she will still be retiring later this year. 

The former world No.7 caught many off guard during the Australian Open in January when she confirmed publically for the first time that 2024 will be her last season. Her announcement came shortly after a tough three-set loss to world No.1 Iga Swiatek and at the time some questioned if she made that comment in the heat of the moment. However, the 30-year-old has her mind made up as she enjoys her latest surge in form. 

At the Miami Open, she has defeated seeded players Anastasia Potapova, Sorana Cirstea and Caroline Garcia en route to the semi-finals. Making it the second time in her career that she has reached this stage of the tournament after 2018 when she did so as a qualifier. In her latest match, she dropped only five games during her 6-3, 6-2, win over a in-form Garcia. Garcia defeated Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff earlier in the tournament. 

Following her latest victory, Collins faced more questions about her decision to retire. Once again she reiterated her results on the Tour would have no impact before questioning why she has to keep justifying herself. 

“I think it’s really interesting how in a lot of different situations I have had to kind of justify the reasons behind retirement,” Collins points out. “I’m living with a chronic inflammatory disease that affects your ability to get pregnant. So that’s a deeply personal situation. I’ve kind of explained that from time to time.
“This is my personal choice. This is so much more to do than just tennis and my career. I’m enjoying my career. I’m having a lot of fun; I love coming out here and competing. But at the end of the day, like, this is a really big life decision. I think that that should be pretty understandable.”

Collins, who turned 30 last December, says she feels there more scrutiny about her decision to retire because of her gender. 

“I find it interesting because I kind of felt like when I was announcing my retirement everyone has been congratulating me and so excited for me, but then on the other hand, I feel like I have had to justify my decision a lot. I feel like if I was a guy, I probably wouldn’t have to justify it that much.” She commented.

So far in her career, Collins has won two WTA titles which was during 2021. The following year she reached her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open. 

In Miami, the American will play Ekaterina Alexandrova for a place in the final. 

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‘A Great Challenge’ – Daniil Medvedev Ready For Sinner Showdown In Miami

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(credit Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium)

Daniil Medvedev says his semi-final clash with Jannik Sinner at the Miami Open provides him with an opportunity to improve his game further. 

The defending champion booked a showdown with the Italian after beating Nicolas Jarry 6-2, 7-6(7), on Wednesday. It is the 14th time that Medvedev has reached the last four of a Masters 1000 event. In his latest match, the Russian hit 12 winners and won 80% of his first service points. 

Medvedev’s next challenge will be the formidable Sinner who has won 20 out of 21 matches he has played so far this season. It will be their first clash on the Tour since the Australian Open final where Medvedev won the first two sets before losing in five. 

“He’s playing better and better,” the reigning Miami champion Medvedev said of Sinner. “He’s confident, some matches where you look on TV, where he’s maybe a little bit in trouble, he manages to find solutions – that’s what champions do.
“It’s a great challenge for me to continue improving my game – I’ll try to show my 100 percent and go for it.”

Overall, the two tennis stars have faced each other 10 times on the Tour before this week. Medvedev dominated their rivalry early on by winning all six of their first matches played. Then it was Sinner’s turn to dictate proceedings with the 22-year-old winning their four most recent meetings. 

Another factor in their rivalry is the competitiveness between the two with more than half of their matches (six out of 10) going the distance. 

“It’s going to be a very tactical match potentially because I have to be ready if he starts off in a similar way as in Australia.” Sinner said following his 6-4, 6-2, win over Tomas Machac. 
“I have to be ready and try to understand it (Medvedev’s game) before. Maybe he’s gonna change a couple of things. So let’s see. It’s going to be an interesting test for me. Hopefully, I can show some good tennis.”

Medvedev is aiming to become the man to defend their title at the Miami Open since Novak Djokovic in 2016. It would also be the first time in his career that he has won the same tournament twice. 

The upcoming semi-final clash is set to take place on Friday. 

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