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THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER:
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, NO. 51
Dent parts ways with 'shocked'
Stine
Agassi: Steffi "cruised" through
birth of new daughter
Will the Williamses play the Championships?
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
© Mark Lyons |
Even though he had his most successful
year ever, Taylor Dent didn't renew his coach Brad Stine's contract
and is currently traveling with his father, Phil.
"I was quite shocked and it was a huge disappointment,"
Stine told tennisreporters.net.
"He called me on Friday after
the [US] Open. There wasn't a lot of logic behind the decision.
When I first signed on with Taylor [last fall], we had a discussion
about loyalty and I told him I was concerned about how many coaches
he had gone through. He defended himself and I thought we had
agreed that if he had a good year, he would be loyal and stick
with me. I thought we had a good relationship."
Sources told tr.net that Dent wasn't convinced
that Stine – who once coached No. 1 Jim Courier –
could take him to the top nor understood enough about the serve-and-volley
style. Dent, who reached the fourth round of the US Open before
retiring with an injury against Andre Agassi, has won the last
two tournaments he's played in, Bangkok and Moscow.
Before joining forced with Dent, Stine coached Mardy Fish for
two years. Under Stine, Dent's conditioning improved a tremendous
amount, as did his overall results.
"When I started working with Taylor he was ranked No. 70
and I knew it would be a process of small steps forward,"
Stine said. "His biggest problem before was consistency and
he was more consistent this year than any other before, plus I
was the first coach to convince him how important fitness was.
It was like taking a mediocre team into the playoffs and then
getting fired."
Stine added that Phil Dent's large influence over his son "was
a big portion" of Taylor's decision to end the relationship.
Phil used to coach Taylor full-time before it got in the way of
their father-son relationship.
Stine, who has coached on tour for the past 13 years, is now considering
going into real estate and says that it will take a very special
situation to draw him back on tour.
"I love what I've been doing but it seems like over the past
few years a greater degree of selfishness has developed and a
less degree of loyalty from players, parents and their agents.
It seems like they want immediate, quick results from a coach
who is supposed to magically transform a player within a few months.
With most players, it takes time. The norm on the tour now seems
to be guys changing their coaches often."
Stine does believe that Dent has top-10 stuff but may not be around
the tour if and when Taylor realizes his potential.
"The way my last two coaching relationships have left a bad
taste in my mouth," he said.
Agassi: Steffi 'cruised' through birth of
new daughter
Agassi Enterprises |
The LA Times and Inside
Tennis' Steve Pratt reports that Steffi Graf's birth of her
and Andre Agassi's new daughter, Jaz Elle, went off without a
hitch. "She just cruised. I would never say (giving birth)
is easy, but she sure made it look that way," Agassi said
of his wife.
Jaz Elle was born Oct. 3 and weighed six pounds, 14 ounces. "Her
middle name is after both of our mother's names which start with
El," Agassi said.
Will the Williamses play the Championships?
Fed Cup coach Zina Garrison has been speaking
to Venus Williams recently and said that it's very difficult to
tell whether either she or Serena will play the rest of the year.
Venus just pulled out of Zurich and hasn't played since Wimbledon
because of an abdominal tear and the recent murder of her older
sister, Isha. She and Serena are scheduled to play Philadelphia,
the week prior to the season-ending Bank of America Championships,
Nov. 5-10 at LA's Staples Center. Serena hasn't played since undergoing
knee surgery in early August.
Here's a potentially horrible scenario: not only don't the Williamsesplay,
but Lindsay Davenport – who's holding off on having foot surgery
– gets hurt again and can't play, and that Kim Clijsters ankle
injury and Justine Henin-Hardenne's back injury keep them out of
the competition.
Imagine trying to promote a Monday night primetime final in the
States between Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva? |
