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Piotr Wozniacki: There_Ñés no chance to practise


 

Originally published on: 28/06/12 00:00

Caroline, who started the year as world No.1, has been sliding down the world rankings and will fall further from her current position at No.7 after losing to Tamira Paszek in the first round at Wimbledon.

Piotr said it was a particular problem for young players trying to make their way in the sport. “It is very hard for any players to find time to make changes because there are so many mandatory tournaments,” he said. “You play in a way that you can beat opponents. It doesn’t matter if you play the ball short or high or you have a bad technique. It’s important that you beat opponents and can go quickly into the top 100.”

He added: “There’s no chance to practise many things. You practise only so that you can get results. The important thing for young players is to get a good ranking quickly. If you have a good ranking then you can get a good coach and start working on different things. When you have no ranking you can practise fantastic – volleys, serving, coming to the net – but you don’t have time to experiment. You only have time to try to climb up the rankings.”

Piotr, a former professional footballer, also believes that the way tennis is organised offers players insufficient time to recover between tournaments. “I have very good connections with some football coaches and I talk to them,” he said. “Look at football players. They go to the club, they train, they go home. They only work for a few hours. Plus they are all members of a team.

“But look at tennis players. At the start of the year they go to the Australian Open, then they play Fed Cup, then they go to Doha and then Dubai. Then they’re off to Indian Wells. They’re constantly travelling to different time zones. People don’t understand this.”

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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.