KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — Legendary tennis coach Nick Bollettieri loved Malaysia so much during his first visit in December 2017 he's coming back for more, this time focusing on developing elite and high performance juniors.
The 86-year-old responsible for players like Andre Agassi, Venus and Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Tommy Haas, Kei Nishikori and many others is still very active in tennis circles, travelling the world to spread his life philosophy.
“I’m excited to return to Kuala Lumpur especially now, knowing that leaders in their 80s and 90s are in high demand,” said Bollettieri.
“My team is looking forward to sharing more of my 60 years of tennis knowledge with as many people as I can. I want to continue what we started last year to help build a more inspired and active tennis environment in Malaysia,” said the octogenarian.
Bollettieri is widely thought to be the most prolific coach across all sports, having produced 10 first-ranked global players and 144 Grand Slam titles.
He was the coach of former national player V. Selvam, who owns and runs Duta International Tennis Academy, and upon Selvam's request came down last year for the first time ever and was a huge hit among tennis aficionados.
Many were asking for more of him and thus the man has decided to come here for four days (June 21-24) and conduct a camp dubbed the #TraintoWin 2.0 Camp.
His presence in Malaysia will boost the profile for tennis which has been in the doldrums for years.
“We want to up the ante this time and Nick said we should do a fully immersive camp with coaches as well,” said Selvam who is the all-time highest ranked Malaysian on the Association of Tennis Players (ATP) singles ranking at 316 in 2011.
“Working with Nick in December was an amazing experience. His stamina outpaced most of our younger coaches and his words of wisdom left our students wanting more. Over the past six months, we have been working hard to keep the ball rolling, or rather bouncing, to continue the momentum we built with Nick and his team.
“We want as many Malaysians as possible to experience Nick’s winning mindset for coaching, and are proud to be able to share this with the fraternity of inspired coaches across Asean.
“We're also going to a few clubs for a meet and greet session with juniors and adults alike as part of our efforts to promote the game,” he added.
The tennis camp will be limited to 60 tournament-ready players from across the region who will train directly with Bollettieri, along with 20 of the region’s coaches.
Adding to the nearly 40 hours of on-court coaching by Bollettieri, a fitness and TIA Cardio Tennis Master will be on court at the #TraintoWin 2.0 Camp to work with the participants on footwork and fitness as well as hosting Cardio Tennis sessions for adults in the evening.
