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Serving ace Bobby Mahal shows how

Described as “the most systematic and natural training method” endorsed by stars like Roger Federer, Justine-Henin Hardene and Oliver Rochus. Bobby Mahal, a Progressive Tennis expert and a TV tennis analyst from Canada has been roped in by the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy (MBTA) to introduce this technique to India at their centres in Delhi, Nagpur, Cochin, Bangalore and Mumbai. Mahal will be the head of Academy Development with the MBTA.

“I look forward to the challenge of developing world class players at the Mahesh’s Academies and working with the staff in developing the large pool of talent the country has. With current players like Mahesh and Sania representing India well on the international stage and with training centres like these, there is no reason why more talented players like them cannot develop into future stars,” says Mahal.

Mahal of Punjabi descent, was born and raised in Ontario, Canada. He was highly regarded as a team leader for Canada in junior team competitions, and has won three Canadian Junior National Championship titles in his career.

Mahal became a friend and hitting partner with Andre Agassi and went under the tutelage of the legendary coaches Jimmy Connors and Pancho Segura. In 1994 Bobby headed to the University of California at Berkeley on a full tennis scholarship, where he graduated in 1998 with degrees in Journalism and Business, and finished as high as No.12 in singles and No.6 in doubles in NCAA Tennis. A shoulder injury forced Mahal to retire from competitive play in 2000.

Since then, Mahal has worked as a TV and Radio Tennis Analyst for Canada’s second largest Sports Network - Fox Sportsnet Canada, as well as running multiple tennis academies in his hometown, Toronto.

Operating under the name Advantage Tennis, he has quickly developed some high level talent.

“Even though I come from a playing background I wanted to learn the other end of the equation properly,” Mahal says and that prompted him to do the Canadian coaching certification, which is regarded as one of the toughest in the world.

After having worked with noted Canadian coach like Louis Cayer, Mahal is a Level Three coach, which is one of the highest order.

“Game-based training and Progressive Tennis are two of the best innovations in tennis that have come to the forefront within the last decade, and I look forward to bringing this to the MBTA centres,” says the coach.

Dwelling on the Progressive Tennis, Mahal says: “This is aimed at introducing children as young as three to 14 years to tennis in a fun filled environment. We are looking at ways to develop a child in all aspects, mind, body and technique, as against normal conditions, where the focus is only on technique. Modified balls and racquets and scaled down tennis courts form the basis of this training system. Depending on their age, the courts are either half or three-fourths and racquets heads vary from 19 inches to 25 inches,”

Mahal says that tennis gear manufacturers like Slazenger and Wilson are already producing racquets to suit progressive tennis. “Providing a solid foundation is the key in progressive tennis and once they have grasped the right fundamentals, the children can make an easy transition to regular tennis,” asserts Mahal. He said the system has been successfully adopted in Canada, Switzerland, Argentina, Belgium, Israel, Spain and a lot more national federations are planning to introduce progressive tennis to raise the standard of junior game and create a large young talent pool.

Mahal was gratified by the response that he had from young trainees at MBTA for progressive tennis. He says, “I used to ask them what kind of training they want, normal or progressive, at the end of the day, they always say progressive.”

Mahal hopes to return in March and put everything in place for the programme and a whole new crop of trained coaches in progressive tennis, will take over and do the job. “I have been putting up a training manual for them,” he adds

The Indian ace and Managing Director of the MBTA, Mahesh Bhupathi is very committed to introducing progressive tennis for his wards. “It makes the learning process enjoyable and also the young players, with progressive tennis as a major tool, can make the transition to regular tennis smoothly and become all round players,” says Mahesh.

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