Michel Joyce admits he used to “pick a fight” with Maria Sharapova – it’s one of many tricks the tennis coach used to keep his star focused.
In the past, a tennis coach went largely unnoticed but that has changed in the past decade with several high-profile former greats – Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker and Andre Agassi – now in the coaching game.
But what does it take to be a tennis coach?
“There are hundreds … thousands of people out there who can analyse a player and know what they should be doing … or shouldn’t be doing,” Joyce tells the Herald On Sunday. “But not many who actually know how to do it. It’s simple … but complex.”
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As an analogy, Joyce recalls an encounter with long-time Chicago Bulls and LA Lakers NBA basketball coach Phil Jackson a few years ago in Melbourne.
“A few of us were playing poker with Phil – Andy Roddick, James Blake, a couple of others – and someone asked him why he had been so successful. He said: ‘There’s about 10 million people around the world who can coach basketball … it’s not very hard, the technical stuff. I think my talent is being able to take 12 multi-millionaires and have them believe in a system, execute it and make sure they all get along’.
“It’s kind of like that with tennis. It’s easy to watch a match and say ‘this player needs to do this, this and this’, but to get them to do it, get them to believe that’s what they should do, and get them to do it under pressure … that’s a whole other story.”
Joyce made his name with Sharapova, across a seven-year period when she reached No1 and claimed three grand slams. He had a brief spell with Victoria Azarenka and then coached Britain’s Johanna Konta for a year before Eugenie Bouchard hired him last season. He helped the Canadian on her comeback, including a final in Luxembourg and a quarter-final at the ASB Classic.
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Joyce was a former top junior who reached a career-high No 61 on the ATP tour. He claimed the scalps of Michael Stich and Jim Courier, and battled the likes of Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt in their prime. A wrist injury hastened his move into coaching.
He estimates that at the top level, 80 per cent of the sport is mental, especially in the women’s game, which can be harder physiologically than the power-dominated men’s game.
Maria Sharapova celebrates after defeating Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne. Photo / AP
Maria Sharapova celebrates after defeating Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne. Photo / AP
“It can be tougher, because generally they don’t have the same weapons,” said Joyce. “The mental side of the women’s game is really big, because generally under pressure, you won’t be able to hit three aces to get out of it, like many men.”
Hence the need for strong communication skills in his role.
