The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Cash on talent scouting mission

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Cash on talent scouting mission

Sports Reporter

KOLKATA: Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, who is here to conduct a three-day clinic with the players and coaches of the Bengal Tennis Association, said that he along with his colleagues is trying to develop a coaching system, which would lead them to the smallest club.

"That is where the next Wimbledon champion could be sitting," said Cash.

Cash, into the second day of the clinic, said scouting talents is one of his prime objectives. "He or she could be six years old and could be in a local club somewhere. There was a guy from Australia, who was a pretty good player, he came from a small town and his name was Rod Laver. Look what happened to him. So, there's a Wimbledon champion at every corner, we should try and get them,'' he said.

He said there is lot of talent in the country but unfortunately "many of them were taught the wrong way.''

Tough sport

Cash said the problem was more with the absence of high quality tennis in the region. "This is not the fault of the coaches here but that has happened because of the lack of international presence in this area or India for that matter.'' Tennis is a tough sport and is "very international unlike cricket where there are five or six dominant countries.''

"No one heard about Switzerland ten years ago but Martina Hingis and Roger Federer came along and now there are players from Chile, Ukraine, Cyprus and so on. It's incredibly tough out there.

Unless you are good in all aspects including physical fitness, technique, temperament and tactical experience, it is very difficult to break through,'' he said.

Dismissing the idea that former players become good coaches, Cash said: "often many ex-players become good coaches but that necessarily is not the case always.''

Modern techniques

"I have studied so much over the last years about the technique of the modern players and I have couple of people with whom I am constantly discussing and researching on modern techniques. That is not what the tennis players usually do,'' he said.

Cash said he would prefer to dedicate his time to train children. "I think that's more enjoyable. It is very difficult looking after professional players as they expect lot of time, they expect miracles and are eccentric at times. I myself was very eccentric as a player but I want to be a very patient coach,'' he said.

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