Having hung up her racket in 2006, Conchita Martínez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion, now trains the biggest young star in the game of tennis: Mirra Andreeva. The Spaniard recently paid a visit to the podcast of Daniela Hantuchova, with whom she evidently has a great relationship. They were fierce on-court rivals for many years, but their friendship has endured and is clear to see in the latest episode of ‘Daily Dani’.
“We have an incredible connection, we get on so well and we have fun”, explained the Tennis Hall of Famer of her relationship with Andreeva, the upcoming teenager who has already proved to the tennis world what she is capable of with two WTA 1000 titles already this season.
Of the next step in her understudy’s career, Conchita has no doubts: “Mirra is already ready to win a Grand Slam. It’s true that winning a major is very difficult and you never know when it will happen until you do it, but despite her youth Andreeva already has the level to do it. We’ll see if she does, and when, but her level is there”.
The Spaniard also talked about on-court coaching. In her day, giving advice to players mid-match was not allowed. The coach has had to refine her methods in this regard, in fact she is still figuring out the best way to pull it off: “Mirra is feisty. When things are going her way she has no problem if you tell her things. But when things go wrong, we see the other side of her and she finds it hard to take things on board. I’m learning to recognise which are the best moments for her to understand what I’m trying to communicate and she needs to improve her listening when things aren’t going as well as she would like. That said, for a 17-year-old she is a very mature player and I wish I had been nicer to my coaches sometimes”.
Andreeva’s versatility continues to astonish her peers on the tour. It is one of the things Conchita has driven into her since they started working together. “She has so many good shots, but it’s important to learn to vary your style. Things don’t go your way every day and you have to have different options, trajectories and speeds. Having a plan B is essential. We’ve done a lot of work to be more aggressive on court and it’s working for us”. These characteristics are exactly what made Conchita the player she was and enabled her to lead Spain to the Billie Jean Cup title five times. She is a legendary figure in her home country and a great role model and coach for her students.
Conchita also touched upon how much the sport has changed: “I would have liked to have had so many things in my era. Nutrition, recovery, things for fitness. But also materials and rackets. It would have been so useful, but at least I’m trying to learn now to help the people I work with”.
The sport is evolving and now comes with a huge amount of additional information. But for the Spaniard nothing beats live tennis. “I really like watching a lot of tennis. I watch Mirra’s opponents in person. I try to go to the court to watch them, I think it’s very different to seeing them on TV. Technology also gives us a lot of data, I like to understand it and to go through it with Andreeva. She likes seeing graphics and understanding the strengths of her opponents with data. But to me it’s essential to see them on court”.
Technology has brought with it many advantages, but also the constant barrage of sometimes invasive comments on social media: “Mirra really likes it, although I don’t think she’s obsessed. But if I had to bring something from our era to today, it would be not having social media. I think it’s such a distraction and there are too many people and too much negativity. It’s difficult to handle and I’d like us to get that calm back”, concluded Conchita.
