The third edition of the world conference for tennis coaches, organized by GPTCA and Segal Institute, with ATP as institutional sponsor, will be held from 30^th of March to 2^nd of April. Many big names in the world of tennis are among the speakers, including Toni Nadal, Sergi Bruguera, Brad Gilbert, Gilles Cervara, Magnus Norman and Vincenzo Santopadre. And also Ubitennis.

Published by Ubitennis.com on 21 March  2023, translated by Massimo Volpati

A well-established high-level training for tennis coaches, teachers and instructors. We are talking about the World Tennis Conference (WTC), the online conference for tennis coaches from all over the world, now at its third edition, which will be held from 30^th March to 2^nd April 2023. The organization is managed by GPTCA – Global Professional Tennis Coach Association, the world association of tennis coaches recognized by ATP which deals with the training and updating of tennis coaches at an international level, and by SI – Segal Institute, an organization that provides advice and services in the field of tennis. The high quality of the event is confirmed by the presence, for the third consecutive year, of ATP as institutional sponsor, which together with GPTCA certifies the conference as a professional development event for coaches.

World Tennis Conference is designed for tennis coaches from all over the world with the aim of providing, in four intense days of training in e-learning mode, the most exhaustive possible picture of the knowledge, skills and competences that a tennis coach should develop. This edition will feature for the first time the  “NextGen Tennis Coaches programme”. This is an initiative that wants to support the entry of young people into the coaching profession world. This year twelve young coaches, aged not over 30, will be offered a free participation in the event.

The names of the speakers featured at WTC 2023 well illustrate the commitment of GPTCA and Segal Institute to making the conference a key reference event for the training of professional tennis coaches. In fact, 68 speakers – mainly tennis coaches, physical trainers, mental coaches and top-level sports scientists – will take the floor on the virtual stage of WTC.

By sharing their experiences and skills, they will highlight the fundamental aspects required for obtaining excellent tennis performances. Just to mention but a few: famous coaches such as Toni Nadal and Alberto Castellani, Grand Slam champions such as Sergi Bruguera and Pat Cash, as well as former top ten players such as Brad Gilbert, Jimmy Arias, Magnus Norman, Rainer Schuttler and Tommy Haas.

And speaking about current top players coaches, as well as Toni Nadal (who currently is following Auger-Aliassime), WTC 2023 will host Sergi Bruguera (since last year with Zverev), Vincenzo Santopadre (Berrettini’s lifelong coach),  Gilles Cervara, Daniil Medvedev’s coach, Frederic Fontang, head coach of Aliassime, and Michael Russell, Taylor Fritz’s coach. And last but not least, when it comes to excellent performances, the physical trainer of Novak Djokovic: Marco Panichi.

The conference aims to train coaches at 360 degrees, thus also dealing with the skills a coach should develop outside the canonical technical, tactical, physical and mental areas, in order to be able to support his player even more effectively and better organize his manifold activities. Hence the focus on relations with media and  external communication, Topics which, were already discussed during the first edition.

This time also Ubitennis will take part in the virtual stage of WTC. In fact, the Live Panel “Communications Training” will see among the Special Speakers our Director Ubaldo Scanagatta, with his decades of experience as a journalist, reporter and correspondent at over 160 Grand Slams, but also former director of the ATP tournament in Florence, from 1974 to 1979, and our collaborator Ilvio Vidovich, member of the Scientific Committee and press officer of ISMC  (International Sports Mental Coach Association).

The event will take place on the CoachTube e-learning platform. Further information is available on the event website https://worldtennisconference.com/.

The Draw of the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage took place in Malaga on Wednesday afternoon. 

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has confirmed the host nations for the 2023 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage. 

The Unipol Arena in Bologna (Italy) and the Pabellon Municipal Fuente de San Luis in Valencia will return as host venues after staging successful events in 2022. 

Host team Italy will take on defending champions Canada, who won the Davis Cup Trophy for the first time in history beating Australia. The Group A will also feature Sweden and Chile. 

Italy features a potential strong team that includes Jannik Sinner, who reaches the Indian Wells and Miami Open semifinals and the Rotterdam final this year, and 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini. 

Felix Auger Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov helped Canada beat Australia in the final in Malaga last November. 

“In 2022 our unbelievable run in Malaga was a dream come true, and I am extremely proud of what the team and our country managed to accomplish. As we get set the launch our title defence, we expect the pressure to be on us, and we can’t wait to prove to the world that we truly belong at the top. Back-to-back champions has a nice ring to it, and we will do everything we can to keep the Davis Cup in Canada”, said Canadian Davis Cup captain Frank Dancevic.  

Spain will fight for a spot in the knock-out stage against Serbia, Czech Republic and South Korea in Group C in Valencia. The draw set up a possible match-up between the top two players Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, who won the US Open in 2022 and the Australian Open in 2023. Spain beat Serbia in last year’s group stage, when neither Rafa Nadal nor Novak Djokovic took part

Manchester will host Davis Cup matches for the first time since July 1994, when Great Britain took on Romania at the Northern Lawn Tennis Club. The O2 Arena in Manchester will host the Group B which features Great Britain, last year’s finalists Australia, France and Switzerland. 

Croatia will be Group Stage host nation. The venue will be announced soon. Two-time Davis Cup champion Croatia will play against the USA, the Netherlands and Finland. The Finals Group Stage takes place on 12-17 September 2023. The top two teams from each group will reach the Final 8 knock-out stage at the Palacio de Deportes José Maria Martin Carpena in Malaga. On 21-26 November 2023.

Jannik Sinner cruised past Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3 6-1 in 1 hour and 15 minutes in a quarter final match disrupted by rain at the Miami Open inside the Hard Rock Stadium. 

Sinner has won all eight sets he has played at this year’s edition of the Miami Open. He has improved his head-to-head record to 5-0 against Ruusuvuori. He won three of these five matches in Miami in the Round of 16 in 2021 (6-3 6-2) and in the first round in 2022 by the scoreline of 6-4 3-6 7-6 (10-8).  

Sinner saved the first break point of the match in the fourth game before breaking Ruusuvuori to take a 3-2 lead. The 21-year-old Italian player hit a backhand return winner to break serve in the ninth game and close the first set 6-3.

Sinner built up a 2-0 lead before the match was interrupted by rain. After a two-hour delay Sinner held serve for 3-0. Sinner sealed the second set 6-1 with a double break at deuce in the sixth game. 

Sinner has improved his record at the Miami Open to 12-2. He finished runner-up to Hubert Hurkacz in the final in 2021. “We both played well today but I won the important points. It’s never easy when you are up and you get interrupted, but I came back and I played well”, said Sinner.