Renowned tennis coach Bob Brett has died at the age of 67 just two months after receiving a top award for his contribution to the sport from the ATP.
The Australian passed away in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Paris, where he has been undergoing treatment, following a lengthy battle with cancer. He has been treated initially for liver cancer before the disease spread to other parts of his body, according to The Gulf News.
Throughout his career, Brett has been coach to many top players on the men’s Tour. His work included stints with Grand Slams champions Boris Becker, Goran Ivanisevic and Marin Cilic. With Becker he was his principle coach between 1987-1991 and helped the German win 18 Tour titles. He also oversaw Becker’s standout 1989 season when he won both the Australian Open and US Open. Brett also guided Ivanisevic to 17 Tour titles between 1991-1995, Andrey Medvedev to the 1999 French Open final and Nicolas Keifer to a ranking high of four.
“It’s been one of the saddest days of my life. I am in total shock as we try to come to terms with such a huge loss, not just to us personally, but also to the entire tennis fraternity,” former UAE coach Mats Thyren told The Gulf News. “Bob taught his players about life, and along with it, how to hit a good forehand. He maintained positive relationships with each of his players even after their partnerships ended.”
Just two months before his death Brett was presented with the Tim Gullikson Career Coach Award. According to the ATP, the honour is given to those who ‘exemplifies excellence, leadership, respect, and a true love for the sport of tennis and the art of coaching.’ In total Brett worked as a tennis coach for 46 years. Besides the players, he has also collaborated with various national associations including the British Lawn Tennis Association where he worked as the head of player development. He also served as the principal of the Bob Brett (now Patrick Mouratoglou) Tennis Academy in Montreuil.
In April 2019 UbiTennis spoke with Brett about the emergence of the Next Generation. It was during the interview where he shared his expertise on how the men’s game has evolved over the years in his opinion.
“Now it’s a little bit random I think with the next generation coming up because the game is different.” He told Ubitennis. “Before with the ball there was much more trajectory and different things. There were more different opportunities with that to use a drop shot and all sorts of things.’
“Whereas today it is more a less about staying near the baseline, hitting the ball hard, straight and trying to get the winners.”
Even towards the end of his life, Brett continued working in the sport. Until recently he continued to help the Japanese Tennis Association by running camps and working alongside the male junior team.
Players Brett has worked with in some capacity
- Johan Kriek
- Boris Becker
- Goran Ivanisevic
- Marin Cilic
- Andres Gomez
- Ricardo Ycaza
- Raul Antonio Viver
- Fritz Buehning
- Tim Mayotte
- Tim Wilkison
- Jose-Luis Clerc
- Mats Wilander
- Guy Forget
- Henrik Sundstrom
- Harold Solomon
- John Lloyd
- Peter McNamara
- Paul McNamee
- Andrei Medvedev
- Nicolas Kiefer
- Mario Ancic
- Shuzo Matsuoka
