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.  

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.