The man responsible for overseeing two players rise to world No.1 during the late 1990s has launched an attack on Dominic Thiem’s new coach.
Larry Stefanki, who has worked alongside a series of top players on the men’s tour, has said that Nicolas Massu is a ‘cheerleader’ and does not class him as a coach. Massu joined Thiem’s team earlier this year during the North American hard court swing. During their time together, the Austrian has won his first Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells, as well as the Barcelona Open.
“The coach is not just a good cheerleader, but he sees the basics of the game, the movement of the legs, the physical theme, what is needed to get to the top. I do not call Nicolas Massu a coach.” Stefani reportedly said earlier this week.
Continuing with his criticism, the American said that Massu should not receive any recognition if Thiem tops the world rankings. The 25-year-old is currently at a ranking best of fourth in the world. So far in his career, Thiem has won 13 ATP titles and reached his first grand slam final at the French Open last year.
“Maybe Dominic is going to be the next number one and I think he will be … but do not say it was because of the coach because he does not have that experience,” he stated.
Stefanki guided both Marcelo Rios and Yevgeny Kafelnikov to the world No.1 place on the men’s tour. His resume also includes stints working with John McEnroe, Tim Henman, Andy Roddick and Fernando Gonzalez.
Besides attacking Massu’s coaching abilities, he has also criticised his career as a player. The Chilean is a former top 10 player best known for winning a gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games. He is also a former French Open semi-finalist and won six ATP trophies before retiring in 2013.
“If he looks at his history, he indicates that he could have been a much better player if he had learned to hit the backhand well.”
Dimitrov, Bouchard also slammed
Massu wasn’t the only person to fall victim to unflattering comments from the 61-year-old. He has also accused Grigor Dimitrov and Eugenie Bouchard of both caring more about their appearance than playing tennis. Both are former top 10 players, but neither have won a grand slam. Dimitrov’s biggest achievement yet was winning the 2017 ATP Finals. Meanwhile, Bouchard was a Wimbledon finalist back in 2014.
“Grigor Dimitrov wanted to train with me, but I did not see him with the willingness to work that was required. He was more concerned to look like Federer. Much worse was the case of Eugenie Bouchard, who preferred the photo sessions to trainING. Number 5 in the world, then, a player can not prefer to pose in a bikini to hit the ball, you’re a tennis player or a model, you can not do both.” He said.
When asked to compare McEnroe with Rios, Stefanki ranks his fellow American as the better player of the two. They were childhood friends before Stefanki became McEnroe’s coach on the tour.
“Both have an incredible talent, but I put McEnroe over Rios for the number of tournaments he won and the time he remained as number one. McEnroe played with admirable ease, like Rios, but he stayed in the elite for much longer, McEnroe was a special guy, but he loved tennis, Rios was more unpredictable, although he was a very intelligent guy,” he concluded.
Stefanki achieved a ranking high of 35th on the ATP Tour in 1985.
