The Bully Approach That Did Wonders
Prior to embarking on a career as a tennis journalist, my education concentration was psychology, more specifically, sports psychology. Initially, when I first began to spend time with Lansdorp, I thought of him as nothing more than a purposeful bully. Part of his coaching methodology involved verbally taunting players. He would do everything possible to push a student to his/her emotional limit. In time, I talked with him about his approach. Off court, as he did on court, he expressed himself with brutal directness. But, it was not quite as pointed as what he regularly dished out during a lesson. There his candor, salted with a vast selection of expletives, required well-founded confidence and a survival kit worth of skills. Away from instruction, interactions with him evidenced an inquiring mind along with a wonderfully, self-deprecating sense of humor.
In response to “Why are you so tough on your students”, he admitted that his behavior was designed to prepare a player for tournament competition. To paraphrase his philosophy – If a kid can get through a lesson and not lose his/her composure playing a tournament match will almost seem like a walk in the park.
Under Lansdorp’s guidance Michael Joyce was ranked No. 1 in the 1992 US Boys’ 18 division. Besides winning an array of national championship titles reaching the 1991 Wimbledon Junior Boys’ final won by Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 6-4, 6-3 topped his competitive resume. Joyce went on to reach No. 64 in the ATP rankings but his career was cut short by a collection of shoulder and wrist injuries. He met a pre-teen Sharapova when Lansdorp asked him to hit with her. After he left the tour, Joyce became her “traveling hitter” and, in time, was deemed a “co-coach”, sharing responsibilities with Yuri. Title aside, he worked with her from 2004 to 2011
Sharapova was always a gritty, no nonsense performer. From the beginning, Lansdorp was taken by the way she could not be intimidated. She always stood her ground.
The 2001 US Open Girls’ Championship was memorable for me. It was the first time I had watched Sharapova, along with Yuri and Lansdorp, compete in a major event. She triumphed in her first match and lost in her second. I remember sitting next to Lansdorp and listening to a shot-selection commentary throughout both encounters. Looking back, her fearlessness stood out. The score didn’t matter nor did the spot where her opponent’s shot landed. She rarely held back. She went after everything.
Having watched her in practice, where she never gave up on a ball, it wasn’t surprising that her competitiveness was soul-deep. In 2001, (and remember that was nineteen years ago), I realized that “never surrender” would truly define her career.
From the get-go, Sharapova was pleasant, but reserved. I was around because of my relationship with Lansdorp which may have made her less cautious and more accepting of my presence. As I run a memory flashback, it seems that she was in the spotlight very soon and for so long, the actually shy Maria quickly adapted to “performing” for the public, and the media, too. Still, she has always been very private. In those days, the only friend I ever saw her with was Estelle La Porte.
Naturally, Lansdorp was the match-maker. Both Estelle and her older brother, Shane, were juniors who were part of his lessons stable. Another “tie them together” fact was that Estelle was just two years younger than Maria. Interestingly, shortly after completing her intercollegiate tennis at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, she was hired as a WTA Communications Manager.
A week short of turning 13 in 2000, Sharapova defeated Myriam Casanova of Switzerland 7-6, 6-4 in the Girls’ 16 Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships final. The performance earned her the tournament’s “Rising Star Award”. In March 2001, she received a wild card into the Pacific Life Open (now the BNP Paribas Open). She slipped past Brie Rippner in three sets in the first round then lost to Monica Seles in her next match. On her birthday that April, she turned pro.
She was the youngest finalist ever (14 years and nine months) at the 2002 Australian Open Junior Girls’ Championships where she lost to Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. She reached the Wimbledon final where Vera Dushevina of Russia triumphed. Late in the year, the International Tennis Federation ranked her No. 6 in the Girls’ 18 division. Her ITF career record was 47-9.
Lansdorp occasionally quipped that he was better known in Russia than he was in his Southern California hometown. Sharapova, obviously, was his notoriety envoy. Yet, she wasn’t alone in drawing attention to his mentoring expertise. Anastasia Myskina, who won Roland Garros in 2004, (the same year Maria “surprised” astute followers of the game capturing the Wimbledon title), added to his acclaim.
In the early 2000s both players trained with him. There were occasions when Myskina, who was born July 8, 1981 and is six years older than Maria, would be finishing a session as Sharapova was doing her warm-up stretching, just outside the court. From time to time, I was lucky to be leaning over the courtside fence, watching the two careers unfold. The performances (and remember, these were lessons, practices may be more accurate) were match-worthy in spirit.
This was because Lansdorp had orchestrated the scene. In addition to his famed forehand, he was the choir director of “competitiveness.” He stressed it. He did everything possible to develop the quality in his players. His mantra was, “Champions have no fear”.
