The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has confirmed that they have enlisted the help of three former players to work on their young player development programme.
Former world No.1 and 8-time Grand Slam champion Ivan Lendl has agreed to spend 50 days over the next year with a group of young male players aged 15 and 16. The group of promising American players will be approximately half a dozen and Lendl will be coaching them at a training camp. During a telephone interview with the Associated Press, the 55-year-old spoke about his upcoming assignment.
“I enjoy working with younger players. You can form them and help them the most,” Lendl said.
“It’s just fun watching how they try to learn. They ask a lot of questions. They try different things. They’re just eager to get better.”
Currently America has 13 female and 7 male players ranked inside the top 100. The future of American men’s tennis is also currently promising with a group of young players already making their mark on the tour. 2015 US Open junior champion Taylor Fritz has recently won back-to-back Challenger titles and 17-year-old Tommy Paul reached the final at last week’s Charlottesville Challenger before losing to another young American player, 19-year-old Noah Rubin.
Lendl will also be joined by two other former players, Mardy Fish and Jill craybas. Recently retired Fish will work with a group in California over the next two months and Craybas will work with a group in Florida.
Lendl spent three years coaching Andy Murray between 2011-2014. During that period the Czech guided Murray to two Grand Slam titles and a Olympic gold medal. Speaking about his future plans during a telephone interview with the AP, Lendl refused to rule out returning back to the main stage of coaching.
“I don’t know if it will happen, when it will happen, on what level it will happen. But if something comes along which makes a lot of sense, I am always willing to consider it.” The 55-year-old said.
Whilst the Women’s tour has recently seen numerous Grand Slam victories for American tennis due the dominance of Serena Williams, there hasn’t been a male Grand Slam champion since the 2003 US Open when Andy Roddick took the title.
