The training ground of champions

We have been lucky enough to work across many different areas of tennis but none is quite as close to our hearts as our involvement with junior tennis. 

My first experience of junior tennis was watching the boys’ and girls’ matches at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships as part of what was then a new writing gig for the International Tennis Federation (ITF). From the start I found it fascinating to see these talented young players serve their apprenticeship and learn not just about how to prepare for and win matches but also how to function in the unique atmosphere of a major tennis tournament. 

Faye Andrews, my co-director at The Emilia Group, spent eight years immersed in junior tennis as part of a long-term, full-time role at the ITF so her bond with this aspect of the sport is arguably even stronger than mine. That’s why we were both delighted when we began working with Tennis Europe at the start of this year, an organisation of member nations across the continent which runs, among other things, the Tennis Europe Junior Tour.

The TEJT has a roster of events for players aged 12-under, 14-under and 16-under, including a season-ending Masters tournament for the top eight players in each category. It boast players from more than 100 countries across Europe, players with a range of personalities and backgrounds with one thing in common - the desire and potential to end up being the best tennis players on the planet. Rafael Nadal, Justine Henin, Caroline Wozniacki, Andy Murray, Victoria Azarenka, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Maria Sharapova (to name just a few) were all in their shoes once; finding their way and growing up while playing Tennis Europe Junior Tour events. 

Rafel Nadal at a Tennis Europe junior tournament

That impressive list of former TEJT players is not limited to Europeans either; Guillermo Coria, Andy Roddick, Juan Martín Del Potro and Sania Mirza all got their first taste of European competition on the tour. If you go back further you get a sense of the role that Tennis Europe has played in nurturing some of the greatest players of all time, from Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to Steffi Graf, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker and Mats Wilander. 

Clockwise from top left: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray,
Roger Federer, Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg

As part of our role as media consultants to Tennis Europe, we have twice been lucky enough to attend the Tennis Europe Junior Masters, which is held in Reggio Calabria each October. On both occasions we have loved watching how the players bond and learn from each other, as well as from the educational sessions held during the tournament in which we deliver interactive media training. The ethos of the Tennis Europe Junior Tour is very much like that of the global ITF Junior Circuit (which includes the 18-under Junior Grand Slam events) in that it combines the highest levels of competition and professional-standard tournaments with a commitment to support players’ off-court development too. 

These junior tours are designed to mirror the ITF Pro Circuit, ATP and WTA Tours in every way, even down to having a cumulative ranking system and anti-doping programme. In every sense it is where champions learn their trade.  

If tennis's big four are boring, what's the solution?

Ernests Gulbis might not have lasted very long at this year’s Roland Garros but his declaration to L’Equipe that Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are ‘boring’ ignited a debate that looks set to rumble on all summer.

In the aftermath, Murray and Federer both admitted that they try to avoid controversy if they can, because the resulting brouhaha can prove to be a distraction. Media revels in conflict. Frankly, speaking as an ex-journalist, it makes the job a lot easier if there is a good row going on. You can simply cover the initial outburst and then spend the days that follow chasing up reactions and counter-claims - which is exactly what happened with the Gulbis story.

It’s hard to conceive just how all-consuming the business of trying to win tennis matches is until you spend time around athletes in competition and, personally, it took me leaving the press room to really appreciate it. While working with athletes, we’ve seen first hand how much a negative story or a controversy surrounding a player can weigh on a player’s mind and distract them, their coach and those around them. Not only does it cause anxiety in the camp and the sort of hassle which can effect performance, but it makes the player wary of doing interviews for fear of making things worse. A gun-shy player is, in turn, far more likely to give ‘boring’ answers and long-term that helps no-one.

The solution is for players to find a way of being themselves without being censored in a way which robs them of any charisma or sense of edgy competitiveness. Getting the right advice helps and that should be a good deal more detailed and nuanced than the oft-repeated: “Don’t say anything which might get you into trouble.” It should include guidance on getting your point across without being disrespectful to opponents or making yourself look bitter or like a moaner. And yes, players do have accept that if they express an opinion then some people will disagree with it. That means those advising them need to help them maintain a sense of perspective about what people write, say, think and tweet about them.

Federer put his finger on one of the biggest issues at play here, namely an overly formal and exhaustive cycle of press conferences, which leads to a saturation of quotes from the same small group of players. Press conference exchanges, involving large groups of journalists addressing a player usually sat behind an imposing desk and in the glare of TV lights, do not allow for much creative questioning or quirky answers.

"I understand it, our interviews are not always the most exciting. But that's not just our fault, that's the machine. After each match, we have to give press conferences,” Federer told Swiss reporters at Roland Garros. "But also you cannot say anything you do not like about something to someone without being totally criticised by many people. Therefore, everyone is very careful."

Of course some press conferences are necessary but tennis needs to explore other types of media interaction which allow players’ personalities to come across more. Murray in particular has suffered from the majority of his media, particularly early in his career, being conducted in the press conference format. He has grown more comfortable with them over the years but it is still clear from Murray’s body language and general demeanor that he does not particularly enjoy press conferences. With the TV camera focused on him alone, the Murray the public sees often appears grumpy and awkward. This is a shame given that, in small group interviews, Murray can be funny, eloquent, humble and engaging.

The ATP, which runs the men’s Tour, has recently been experimenting with the kind of mixed zones common at the Olympics. This could present a way forward, at least in the early rounds of tournaments, with press conferences brought in as additional access from, say, the quarter-finals onwards. Since players enter a mixed zone immediately post-match, it would free up players’ time and mean that media would not have to wait half an hour or longer to speak to a player.
With fewer press conferences to do, players could then be asked to do more individual or small group interviews which would encourage creative questions and allow players to express themselves more freely and help us all learn a little bit more about them.

Armstrong underestimates the opposition

Sportspeople as experienced as Lance Armstrong should never underestimate the opposition, yet the disgraced American cyclist and his advisors did just that ahead of last week’s sensational interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, for Armstrong has made something of a habit of it. Even after being exposed, Armstrong showed scant respect for those who doggedly pursued him and refused to accept his repeated denials of doping. Instead he attempted to destroy them, allegedly labeling the whistle-blowing wife of a team-mate a “whore” and issuing threats and lawsuits as he went. 

The Sunday Times’ sportswriter David Walsh was Armstrong’s most ardent and relentless accuser, and deserves to be celebrated by every journalist on the planet for the way he stood up for his story, all the while standing up to one of the biggest names in world sport. Armstrong presented himself as a hero to cancer sufferers as well as an athlete beyond reproach, yet his defensiveness in interviews, aggressive answers to awkward questions and name-calling (“troll” was his favoured word for Walsh, usually accompanied by profanity) were not the responses of an innocent man. 

One of The Emilia Group’s areas of expertise is crisis communications and although it’s an area that corporations tend to focus more on than athletes and sports organisations, those with sponsorships, funding and reputations to lose in sport would do well to look at Armstrong as a reminder that preparing for the worst is always sensible - especially if you have something very big to hide.

It’s not clear what Armstrong thought he was going to gain from the Oprah interview, given that the damage to his reputation became largely irrepairable the moment USANA’s mind-blowing report on his (and his team’s) doping landed on newsdesks around the world. Having committed to the questionable PR tactic of talking to Oprah -  presumably in the hope that he win the public over or gain some sympathy for his plight - Armstrong then prepared poorly and showed little obvious sign of remorse or contrition.

An example of this was when Winfrey asked him if he felt he ought to apologise to Walsh, whom he had villified both professionally and personally (according to Walsh, Armstrong stooped as low as to openly criticise Walsh’s reaction to losing his 12-year-old son). “Do you owe David Walsh an apology, who for 13 years has pursued this story, who wrote for The Sunday Times, who has now written books about your story and about this entire process?” asked Winfrey. There was a long pause before Armstrong said, somewhat unconvincingly, “I’d apologise to David.” Not “Yes of course”; not even the word “sorry”, just a hypothetical and therefore non-committal “I would...”

It’s not clear what Armstrong was expecting from Winfrey - perhaps a teary cuddle and some soft-balled questions - but what he got was a world class grilling that often left him looking flustered and bounced into evasive answers. In Winfrey’s words, she prepared “like I was studying for a test” and, like Walsh before her, undid Armstrong through persistence and attention to detail.

Harry J Enten recently cited some interesting research in his Guardian blog which bears out the suspicion that Armstrong has only managed to hurt his own standing even more by opting to do the interview. In October 2012, at the height of the revelations about Armstrong, 48% of Americans told pollsters that he should not get credit for any of his career accomplishments - including a bronze Olympic medal and seven Tour de France winner’s medals. By early January 2012, pre-Oprah that figure had fallen to 37% showing that the public were easing up slightly.  However the first post-Oprah polls showed that only 21% of Americans polled thought Armstrong could restore his reputation. 

In a further poll, again unearthed by Enten, only 17% of those polled thought that Armstrong was being truthful in his answers to Oprah. That cynicism will only increase as the news cycle rumbles on and more and more people around the world become familiar with both his crimes against sport and the way Armstrong behaved to those who defied him while he denied.

For a man who loved winning so much that he was willing to set aside morality, fairness, honesty and decency, Armstrong sure looks like a loser now.

Building media relationships Djokovic style

One of our favourite sights of 2012 was Novak Djokovic breaking away from his post-semi final press conference at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to personally to hand out chocolates to the assembled journalists as a thank you for their cooperation during the season.

It was a simple act, one which not only endeared the World No.1 to those in the room but also became a hit piece of viral video on social media, circulated via Twitter, Facebook and You Tube within the hour so that fans could celebrate his thoughtfulness as well. 

So, for the price of a few boxes of chocolates and a few moments of Djokovic’s time, the World No.1 and his management team pulled off brilliant piece of positive PR that should serve as an example to other high profile athletes and their advisors.

Watch the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h31XCIrXNo

There are many mutual benefits from having a good relationship between an athlete and media but too often the two are kept apart, as though they worked in parallel universes rather than within the same sport.   Having seen the relationship from both sides now, I can see how this happens. There are usually many layers of people between player and journalist and the very formal press conference format - with its inherent time pressure to get a list of interviews done quickly - leaves little room for friendly, relaxed interaction. The opportunities to chat as colleagues, working in different sides of the same industry, are few and far between. 

The onus is on the player and his or her advisors to create those opportunities. That could mean making time for the occasional coffee and an off-the-record chat with one or two journalists from your own country or it could be something as simple - and human - as remembering to smile and say hello when passing a familiar face from your press conferences in tournament corridors. This is something that we always stress to players that we work with - a smile here and a quick, friendly chat there can go a long way.

It is not just about stroking journalists’ egos - because, let’s face it, most journos develop a necessary thick skin early on in their careers - it’s about breaking down barriers so that you can help each other do a good job.

In talking to athletes, coaches and sports administrators about media, the same misconceptions, prejudices and fears come up time and again. The fear of the unknown can be a powerful force and it can make players unnecessarily nervous, defensive and wary of speaking to journalists or doing interviews. This can lead to bad experiences with media and a lack of confidence which, in turn, leads to poor interviews, unusable quotes and little or no profile for the athlete and his or her sponsors. 

To an uneducated athlete - or one who has been given a negative impression of the media by well-meaning people around them - a journalist is an abstract figure, poised to ask them questions and, perhaps, publicly find fault with what they say or how they play. In my experience you can dispel a lot of myths by simply explaining what those strange men and women in the press room actually do, how deadlines work, why they asked certain questions and what everyone is trying to achieve. Players also need to be educated, as early on in their careers as possible, on how having a positive media profile can help them engage with sponsors and fans.

The more athletes can be helped to see journalists and broadcasters as human beings, the better for them and their sport, not to mention those trying to cover it. If they are in any doubt then they should follow Nole’s lead - chocolate is, after all, always a winner. 

Not for the faint-hearted - The Olympic and Paralympic Mixed Zone

An Olympic or Paralympic Mixed Zone is not a place for the faint-hearted, whether you are an interviewer, an athlete or someone whose job it is to somehow manage the series of post-competition interviews that happen there.

The Mixed Zone often looks like little more than a series of fences or unprepossessing barriers, usually located directly next to the field of play. It is often the first place an athlete goes within seconds of the biggest moments of their career. 

There, as they cope with the emotional, physical and mental aftermath of competition, sports people are introduced to a line of broadcasters and then written press. They conduct a series of interviews, each of which is timed at roughly a minute to 90 seconds. Short, sharp, raw and full of feeling, these ‘flash’ interviews can showcase athletes at their best and their worst.

Both Faye and I have been lucky enough to have spent most of this past summer in Mixed Zones at various events and witnessed first-hand many of London 2012’s most accomplished performers giving their post-event interviews. It has been fascinating to watch those who used those magical 90 seconds to enhance their reputation, engage with the global audience and grab a place in the public consciousness - and those who did not.

Double Olympic Gold medallist Laura Trott is a good example of someone who made the most of her moment in the Velodrome Mixed Zone. Given her engaging, smiling performances in those brief but important moments post- race, it’s no surprise to see Trott emerge from London 2012 as one of the country’s favourite new sports stars. Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis began the Olympics with very high profiles, but their media performances post-event certainly increased the impact of their impressive achievements on the field of play.

Others used their Mixed Zone moments less wisely. Every athlete that marched through without stopping (often, sadly, on the basis of poor advice from team members, coaches and even press attaches) missed an opportunity to connect with fans and potential sponsors. As they return to the real post-London 2012 world of reduced sports funding and the ever-more difficult search for sponsorship, they may regret rushing to chat to their family or coach when they could have spared a few moments en route to get some invaluable media exposure for themselves and their sport.

Oscar Pistorious came into the Paralympics as a much- loved and hugely respected athlete but he may regret denting his reputation with comments made in the Mixed Zone after he suffered a shock to defeat to Brazil’s Alain Oliviera in the T44 200-metre sprint. At the time, Pistorious possibly felt entirely justified in suggesting that Oliviera’s blades were of an unfair length (though the International Paralympic Committee refuted his claim) but he felt moved to apologise afterwards. Apology or not, those comments, made while he was still catching his breath and digesting defeat, could follow Pistorious for years to come.

As anyone familiar with The Emilia Group’s work will know, we are big advocates of preparing athletes for every different media scenario they might expect to face. Using our experiences from this summer and other major events we have worked, we are now putting together a series of workshops designed to help sportspeople understand how a Mixed Zone works and how to make the most of those important 90-second snatches of air-time. Elite sport - and you don’t get much more elite than the Olympics and Paralympics - is all about taking opportunities and for smart athletes, the Mixed Zone is full of those.

Eleanor Preston on media training for athletes

Sportspeople tend to be obsessive about every tiny detail as they prime themselves for major events. Each ounce of food is accounted for, every training exercise repeated and every minute of what is about to happen is visualised and prepared for. That is why we always find it puzzling that athletes are often so under-prepared for the media exposure that comes with top-level sport.

Imagine trying to cope with surging adrenalin and overwhelming feelings of either triumph or despair while being faced, at the same time, with a camera, or a huddle of strangers with notebooks and microphones.  This might be followed by press conference, where rows of unfamiliar faces compete to ask unpredictable and sometimes loaded questions. It is not surprising that many athletes are anxious before and during media interviews, yet they know that media exposure gives them an opportunity to connect with sponsors, and fans and bring a global audience to their sport. In our experience, sportspeople can sometimes miss those opportunities if they are too focused on trying not to say the wrong thing.

One of the reasons we love leading media workshops is that we will often see athletes visibly relax and become more confident in expressing themselves in the course of a session. Athletes, of course, are as much a mix of personalities as any other group of people - from the cocky ones playing class clown to hide their nerves, to the quiet ones who flinch when you ask them to step forward for a role-playing exercise. We’ve learned from experience how to deal with all sorts of characters.

It’s always satisfying to get to the end of a media training workshop knowing that you’ve helped everyone in the room learn how to present the best possible version of themselves and shine when their moment in the spotlight arrives. It’s more satisfying still when you stand at the back of a press conference or TV interview and watch them use what you’ve taught them for real, by nailing an awkward question or charming an inquisitor with a smile and well thought-out answer.  

Unlike some self-styled media training experts, we have both been in a sports media environment and around athletes for most of our working lives. I was a sports journalist and broadcaster for ten years and, like my colleague Faye Andrews, have subsequently helped guide athletes through interviews and photo opportunities at major sporting events like the Olympic Games, Wimbledon and the Commonwealth Games. Together we have media trained a wide range of different sportspeople across various sports and age groups. We believe that we know how to prepare them for the media situations they can expect to encounter – whether that is a chat with their local newspaper or a live BBC interview moments after they’ve won a gold medal.

In sport, a good performance – be it on the field of play or in the media – always begins with the right preparation.