Who are the best and most achieved coaches in men's tennis?

[Mastoor]

I know that Toni Nadal has 14 and Marian Vajda has 12 slams won and I guess they must be the most achieved active coaches in men's tennis, but who are the others?

 

[britbox]

Tony Roche



Tony Roche is still active with Bernard Tomic.

He tops the leaderboard with 15 slams won. What's more impressive maybe is that he's done it with three different players.

April 1985 - Dec 1993 Ivan Lendl (7)



1985 US Open
1986 French Open
1986 US Open
1987 French Open
1987 US Open
1989 Australian Open
1990 Australian Open

1997 - 2002 (end of career) Patrick Rafter (2)



1997 US Open
1998 US Open

Jan 2005 - May 2007 Roger Federer (6)



2005 Wimbledon
2005 US Open
2006 AO
2006 Wimbledon
2006 US Open
2007 Australian Open

 

[britbox]

I know that Toni Nadal has 14 and Marian Vajda has 12 slams won and I guess they must be the most achieved active coaches in men's tennis, but who are the others?

You give Vajda 12 slams? 11 at most.. he sat out 2014... and who was the head coach in 2015 and 2016? Vajda or Becker?

 

[isabelle]

Nick Bollitieri

 

[Bert]

Lionel Zimbler, coach of Benoit Paire between 2008 and 2016. Managed to bring Paire from approx #650th rank to top 20 despite his mental shutdowns.... Don't know if he is the best but he definitely wins the award of the most patient coach of the circuit

I remember having read an article few years ago in which he told that one day Paire came to him telling that he lost his backhand and was not sure to ever manage to be able to hit good backhands again in the future... mental

 

[Ricardo]

Tony Roche



Tony Roche is still active with Bernard Tomic.

He tops the leaderboard with 15 slams won. What's more impressive maybe is that he's done it with three different players.

April 1985 - Dec 1993 Ivan Lendl (7)



1985 US Open
1986 French Open
1986 US Open
1987 French Open
1987 US Open
1989 Australian Open
1990 Australian Open

1997 - 2002 (end of career) Patrick Rafter (2)



1997 US Open
1998 US Open

Jan 2005 - May 2007 Roger Federer (6)



2005 Wimbledon
2005 US Open
2006 AO
2006 Wimbledon
2006 US Open
2007 Australian Open

excellent pick, i remember just a few years ago when i saw Tony practiced with players; i thought he still volleyed better than anybody on tour.... certainly better than Federer. Truly a sight to behold, especially for a guy of his age. Unbelievable, though he could run no more!

 

[Ricardo]

You give Vajda 12 slams? 11 at most.. he sat out 2014... and who was the head coach in 2015 and 2016? Vajda or Becker?

Becker.

 

[britbox]

Becker.

So Vajda's tally is 6.

 

[britbox]

excellent pick, i remember just a few years ago when i saw Tony practiced with players; i thought he still volleyed better than anybody on tour.... certainly better than Federer. Truly a sight to behold, especially for a guy of his age. Unbelievable, though he could run no more!

Roche is a legend. I was reading that Lendl hired him largely for his volleying to take on Wimbledon, yet Federer looked to him primarily for the clay swing.

 

[Ricardo]

So Vajda's tally is 6.

or Becker is at 0, depends if its on mine or Mastoor's version.

 

[Mastoor]

You give Vajda 12 slams? 11 at most.. he sat out 2014... and who was the head coach in 2015 and 2016? Vajda or Becker?

I don't know that Vajda missed any slams and I don't know if the other one is a coach at all no matter what his "title" is. According to Becker Vajda is not deserved for any Novak's slams.

 

[Mastoor]

Nick Bollitieri

This is a good point but how we figure out which and whose slams he is deserved for?

 

[Mastoor]

So, until we figure out "Bolletieri's slams" top list is

1. Tony Roach 17
2. Toni Nadal 14
3. Marian Vajda 12

 

[Moxie]

I think Bolletieri is more considered a great developer of young talent. And he developed a lot of greats, but he is only credited as "coach" to Becker, and just for a couple of years.

 

[Mastoor]

I think Bolletieri is more considered a great developer of young talent. And he developed a lot of greats, but he is only credited as "coach" to Becker, and just for a couple of years.

I know him too as someone who made the academy for the talent and I know he sometimes seated in some players' boxes, but I don't remember him being mentioned as someone's full time coach for a long time.

But then if we added up all the slams players from his academy won, it would be very impressive I believe.

 

[Moxie]

I know him too as someone who made the academy for the talent and I know he sometimes seated in some players' boxes, but I don't remember him being mentioned as someone's full time coach for a long time.

But then if we added up all the slams players from his academy won, it would be very impressive I believe.

Absolutely. He's credited with training so many greats in their early years. One of the reasons that Toni Nadal is considered to be so great is that he not only developed his young nephew, he coached him to 14 Majors. It's not necessarily the same skill to develop a player, and to coach them to great heights. Toni is rare in doing both.

 

[Ricardo]

Nick Bollitieri

Nick is a 'name', he had good eye for picking talents but he was no legendary coach.....just ask Agassi. Nobody was developed into all timer by Nick, they all changed to 'real' coaches when they became grown ups.