Hi Everyone!

September was the start of the unique and exciting Monte Carlo Tennis Academy. This is the first and only full-time touring Academy, with a fantastic base where we will be spending eight weeks a year preparing for tournaments. We are privileged to have the use of the famous Monte Carlo Country Club.

I am very proud of this accomplishment and look forward to writing here about MCTA players’ success in major events. Full details can be found on www.mctacademy.com.

Men’s tour

British tennis is lucky enough to have Andy Murray breaking into the top 20 and hopefully he will address the physical strength progress needed to move into the top 10 and even top 5 over the next 18 months. It will also be interesting to follow his relationship with Brad Gilbert, now that the honeymoon period is over and the nitty-gritty of Tour life sets in!

The difficult news for the chasing pack is that Roger Federer has improved his backhand a lot and decided to ‘cook’ up his serve at this year’s US Open. The work he did in Dubai after Wimbledon paid off handsomely in a totally dominant and sparkling display of form throughout the tournament. That was a rare feat – there was no match where he struggled for form. Roger has Nadal as a challenger if he can make finals, but Nadal is still vulnerable to other players on hard and grass.

Roddick had a fantastic tournament and Jimmy Connors restored his self-belief. His backhand and returns were improved. However his transitional play from baseline to the net is still relatively poor, as he still does not move through the ball. Without this adjustment he will not overly trouble Roger consistently.

And so the men’s Tour awaits the second challenger! Who will step into the breach? Blake, Berdych, Djokovic, Monfils, or a surprise newcomer?! If you look at the list of top 50 players, Andy Murray has the most skills in his game to mature into that player in my opinion, so what an incentive to do the extra work.

Women’s tour

Look at the legs and one can see that the workload had been done. Congratulations to Maria Sharapova, whose improvement on her mobility delivered her second Grand Slam.

This woman is driven to succeed and improve, yet is able to enjoy the promotional and finer things in life without distracting her focus. This is a rare quality for someone in such high demand.

Henin-Hardenne has had a superb year – four Grand Slam finals. I do not think she attacked the net enough in this final, a tactic which brought her so much success in Paris and Wimbledon. She is a fine competitor and an icon for players of smaller physical height. It’s amazing what can be achieved if you put in the physical work - and boy I’ve seen her train and it is exceptional.

The women remain interesting because there are so many contenders for each title and no clear number one.

We now move on to Davis cup and the Indoor season. Italy have won their first Fed Cup – wow hasn’t Italian tennis begun to produce a lot of players? They are fast closing on France and Spain for volume of top 100 players in Europe.

All the best,

David